Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale

Christie’s spring Impressionist and Modern Art sales in New York on May 1 and 2 totaled $150,740,125 (£93,458,878/ €113,391,635). With exceptional sell-through rates of 90% by lot and 96% by value, the Evening Sale was among the most successful sales in this category since 2006.  Of the 31 works offered, 2 lots sold for over $15 million, 7 for over $5 million and 21 for over $1 million. Two star lots tied for the top price of the week: Henri Matisse’s Fauvist still life Les Pivoines and Paul Cézanne’s rediscovered study for Card Players, which both achieved $19.1 million.

Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Day and Works on Paper sales on May 2 achieved similarly strong results, with combined sales of $33,654,125 (£20,865,558/€25,577,135) and solid sell-through rates of 83% by lot and 88% by value. The top lot of the combined sales was Ernst Barlach’s, Weinende Frau, which sold for $938,500 (£581,870/€713,260) – a new world auction record for the artist.