1997 was a great year for most auction houses in the world with Christie's recording a US $ 2 billion dollar turnover, 26% more than last year.
Christie's, which escaped a takeover by the Warburg bank early in February 1998, did well with Impressionist and modern paintings with Picasso's « Dream » almost reaching US $ 50 million, a price which was reminiscent of those fetched during the crazy 1980's. A Cézanne, « Portrait of a woman», a painting by Picasso showing a nude and the view of an Austrian castle by Gustav Klimt went beyond the US $ 26 million mark thus pushing the British auction house to the top. Sotheby's, their American rivals, recorded a $ 1,74 billion turnover, a 17% improvement over last year and fared well with old master paintings and drawings.
It has been noted that some US $ 170 million worth of art objects and paintings were being exported every year from France for sales abroad by both auction houses.
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