Paul Cézanne's "Les Pommes" sold for $41.6 million USD (buyer's premium included) on May 7, 2013 in New York, the top bid in a 230 million USD Impressionist and modern art sale held by Sotheby's.
Originating from a collection assembled by Alex Lewyt, a Manhattan vacuum cleaner inventor who died in 1998, and his wife, Elisabeth who passed away last December, the Cezanne painting of 1889-90 exceeded its presale estimate of 25 million to 35 million USD and went to an on-phone buyer.
Among the people packing the saleroom was Hillel "Helly" Nahmad, an art dealer recently charged in Manhattan with running a high-stakes gambling ring, who sat in the front row along with his brother, Joe, and sister, Marielle Safra but David Nahmad, his father, was not there.
Russian buyers activated the show bidding for paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, Edouard Vuillard, Chaim Soutine and Wassily Kandinsky and one of them bought Pierre-Auguste Renoir's « Vase de Pivoines » for 3.1 million USD.
Also from the Lewyt collection, Amedeo Modigliani's 1909 «L'Amazone» representing the portrait of Baroness Marguerite de Hasse de Villers sold for 25.9 million USD, inside its estimate of 20 to 30 million.
Georges Braque's Fauve 1907 landscape "Paysage a la Ciotat" (1907) went for 15.8 million USD, an auction record for the artist, in favour of Emmanuel Di Donna, a partner at Blain Di Donna gallery on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
A Fernand Leger 1921 painting titled « Trois Femmes à la Table rouge » owned by star singer Madonna who bought it for 3,4 million USD at Sotheby's in 1990 sold for 7.1 million USD against a pre-sale estimate of 5 to 7 million USD.
Marc Chagall's « Animal dans les Fleurs » executed between 1952 and 1959 surged to 4,8 million USD, a record price for a work on paper, against a pre-sale estimate of 1 to 1,5 million
Auguste Rodin's bronze sculpture "The Thinker" conceived in 1880 and cast in 1906 during the artist's lifetime fetched 15.3 million USD, well above its high estimate of 12 million while Camille Claudel's sculpture « La Valse » acquired 24 years ago by Parisian dealer François Odermatt for a mere 100, 000 dollars went this time for 1,9 million USD.
"Buste d'Homme" painted by Pablo Picasso in 1969 sold for 9,6 million USD with fees, above its high estimate of 7 million while the Spanish artist's 1954 folded metal sculpture titled « Sylvette » fetched 13,6 million meeting its low estimate.
Sotheby's 230 million USD turnover for that sale was however just shy of a 235 million global estimate and way behind the 330 million total recorded in May 2012 when the auction house took advantage of selling Edvard Munch's « The Scream » for a record 120 million proving it was hard to find exceptional pieces of Impressionist and Modern art from one year to another Of the 71 works, up for sale, only 11 failed to find buyers.
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