Impressionist/Modern Evening Sale

The Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale took place on the evening of 18 June at Christie’s London, realising £64,076,575/ $100,407,993/ €75,225,899 and selling 84% by lot and 87% by value. The auction had a pre-sale estimate of £52,830,000 to £75,800,000. The top price was paid for Wassily Kandinsky’s rare Expressionist masterpiece Studie zu Improvisation 3, 1909, which sold for £13,501,875/ $21,157,438 /€15,851,201 (estimate: £12-16 million). In total, 18 works of art sold for over £1 million / 22 for over $1 million, and two artist records were set: for a work by Eugène Boudin and a record for a painting by Constantin Brancusi.

Jay Vincze, International Director and Head of Impressionist and Modern Art, Christie’s London: “This evening’s auction saw solid results and the continuing strength of selling rates in the category at Christie’s in 2013. There was great depth of bidding on works of high quality at all price levels, with strong participation from many new and existing collectors from both traditional and growth markets, including Greater China and India. The global appeal and accessibility of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christie’s was further highlighted by the auction of ‘Picasso Ceramics’ at South Kensington which was 100% sold by lot and also attracted new bidders from around the world. The week of sales continues with the Works on Paper and Day Sales at King Street on Wednesday and the South Kensington sale on Friday.”