Christie's misfires on £37m Impressionist and Modern art sale
The Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art auction last night raised £37.1m, missing its low estimate of £37.8m - £51.7m, due to difficulties pricing the mid-range works.
At the evening auction last night in Mayfair's Kings Street, the auction room was packed but there was lacklustre bidding on the works valued between £300,000 and £600,000.
By comparison, this time last year Christie's raised £144.4m, more than three times the amount.
The best works sold well within their estimates, as did the lesser works. Giovanna Bertazzoni, head of Impressionist and Modern art at Christie's in London, said: "The results shows we need to do some research on the mid-market, this area still needs to adjust to economic conditions."
She added: "During the last six months, our auctions of Impressionist and Modern Art in London, Paris and New York have produced consistently solid results and this evening’s sale confirms that collectors, both new and established, have confidence buying works by established artists in this category."
The top lot last night was Claude Monet's 1878 work "Au Parc Monceau," which went under the hammer for £6.3m, above its estimate of £3.5 to £4.5m.
Another star lot was Joan Miro's "Painting" from 1949, which raised £4m against an estimate of £2.2 to £2.8m.
Pablo Picasso's "Homme a l'epee," one of two representations of a Musketeer by the artist on offer in London this week, £5.8m, tended toward the lower end of the pre-sale range of estimates. Rival Sotheby's will sell the other Musketeer painting tonight, with a slightly higher estimate of £6m to £8m.
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