Christie’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale – London

The entire Impressionist and Modern evening sale was supposed to bring in more than £90m for Christie’s. The works being sold from the Miller collection were supposed to bring in more than £40m. Well, the Monet water lilies from the Miller collection alone managed to do that. Going for £40.9m ($80.5m), Le bassin aux nymphéas, 1919, well exceeded it’s £18m – £24m estimate and set an artist record for Monet. It is now the second most expensive painting sold at a European auction. Tania Buckwell Pos, director of AMI arts consultancy, bought the painting from the front row of the saleroom while on the phone with a client. She declined to give her client’s name or nationality.

I think the demand for this work of art has proved that the Impressionist market is far from dead. For great works, collectors will be willing to part with large sums of money.

To get the Monet, Ms. Buckwell Pos outbid Brett Gorby, a specialist in contemporary art at Christie’s New York, who was also on the phone. However, Mr. Gorby was the successful bidder for Degas’ Danseuses à la barre, which sold at £13.5m ($26.5m), more than doubling its high estimate of £6m.

The early fauvist portrait by Matisse, La Pudeur (L’italienne), 1906, failed to reach its estimate of £3m – £4m, selling for only £2.5m ($4.9m). Still, the sale did incredibly well overall, achieving £144.4m ($284.5m) for Christie’s, the highest ever for a European auction.

Christie’s Imps&Mods Press Call

Friday morning I was at Christie’s King Street to view the exhibition for their Impressionist & Modern Sale that will be held tomorrow evening at 7 pm. The works they have in this sale are absolutely stunning. They’re offering 17 works from the collection of J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller, one of the most important collections of Impressionist and modern art ever. Mr. Miller was an industrialist (from Columbus, Indiana) and, along with his wife, he was a philanthropist and patron of the arts and architecture. The 17 works are expected to bring in more than £40m ($80m).

The Miller collection includes one of the best Monets I have ever seen outside of a museum. Le Basin aux nympéas, 1919, is a large, rectangular painting of Monet’s beloved water lilies. According to Christie’s press release, it is one of a set of four paintings that were released by the artist during his lifetime. Of the other paintings, one is in a private collection, one is at the Met, and another was divided. It’s a gorgeous painting, just the type of Monet that people think of when they envision a Monet, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it performs. The estimate is £18m – £24m. I’ll let you know how it does.

They also have a monumental Henry Moore bronze from the Miller collection up for sale. Draped Reclining Woman, 1957/58, is number 5 of an edition of 6, with all the other editions in public collections. With an estimate of £2.5m – £3.5m, I’m pretty sure collectors will be clambering for it (or at least museums will be).

Degas’s Danseuses à la barre, circa 1880, is also in the sale.  Pastel, gouache, and charcoal on paper, it’s a lovely piece where one can literally trace a single crayon mark along the paper.  As with the Miller Monet, it’s exactly what one thinks of when envisioning a scene of Degas’ ballet dancers during practice.  Originally owned by the Havemeyers (American collectors of Degas during his life) and with an estimate of £4m – £6m, I think it will do very well.

There’s a lovely fauvist portrait by Matisse from 1906.  La Pudeur (L’Italienne), is fantastically colorful and bold.  Bought by Sarah Stein (sister-in-law of Gertrude and Leo and a great patron of Matisse) during Matisse’s life and with a rather complete provenance, the painting is estimated at £3m – £4m.

I’m looking forward to watching to sale, and I’ll let you all know how it goes.  All photos courtesy of Christie’s.