Christie's sale
of Impressionist, Modern and Surrealist art held in London on February 4, 2015
art yielded an impressive £147 million, which exceeded estimates of £92.8–133.8
million, and in which 88 percent of the 80 lots offered were sold.
44 lots of
Impressionist and Modern art, estimated at £55.9–80.3 million made £80.3
million including buyers' premium, and a Surrealist art section of 36 lots,
estimated at £36.9–53.5 million realised £66.7million, a record for a
surrealist sale.
The top lot, Cezanne's Vue sur L'Estaque et le Château d'If (c.
1883–1885), from the Samuel Courtauld collection went only for £13.5
million, just above its high estimate.
A small cubistic gouache, Le Guerídon (1920) by Picasso sold for £578,500,
tripling its estimate while a Pissarro landscape went within estimate for £2
million. A rare 1925 relief by Jean Arp, Balcon
I, acquired in 2012 for £1.5
million (three times its estimate) reached exactly the same price this time.
Chistie's offered three Giacometti sculptures in
the evening sale and one in the day sale which were all sold. A 43-inch cast of
his bronze Femme
de Venise V, which had been acquired in 2010 for $10.3 million
(£6.4 million) by Belgian collector Pierre Salik only fetched a disappointing
£6.8 million. The artist's small Tête
de Diego sur socle from
a different collection, which had never been seen on the market fared better at £3
million, doubling its high estimate.
Also from Salik, a Modigliani double
portrait,Les deux filles (1918), which he bought in 2009 above
estimate for £6.5 million sold for £7.6 million.
A record £2.2 million was made for
a 1910 painting by Eric Heckel while a gouache on paper by Franz Marc titled Springendes
Pferd (1913) which had fetched a record £936,500 in 1997 went for a new record of £2.5 million to a German buyer.
In
fact, it was the surrealist section of the sale which was really successful
thanks to 12 pieces of the collection of Pierre Salik of which 10 sold for a
combined £27.6 million.
Among these, Rene Magritte's
gouache,Souvenir de Voyage, quadrupled its estimate to reach £2.7 million, a record for a work on paper by the
artist.
Miro's oil painting, L'Oiseau au
plumage déployé vole vers l'arbre argenté (1953), also from
the Salik collection sold to an American phone bidder for £9.2 million.
Another Miro painting
(Women, Moon, Birds) more than doubled its high estimate at £15.5
million, a record for a 1950s work by the artist while the latter's L'Oiseau
s'envole vers la zone où le duvet pousse sur les collines encerclées d'or rose
to £5.7 million against an estimate of £2–3 million.
Several
works by Ernst, Magritte, and Delvaux notably subdued Asian bidders, an
interesting sign for the market while one Russain bidder acquired a 1920s
Chagall painting, Jeune
fille au cheval, for £5.9 million against a £2.2–2.8 million
estimate but the top Delvaux of the sale, Le
Bout du Monde, featuring five topless women, did not sell.