The final round of evening auctions in New York on November 20 at Sotheby’s ended an intense week in the best possible way that saw the market react positively to the proposal of quality works from prestigious collections. The role of the collection was also very important, and above all, on this last occasion, where the evening was marked by three different catalogues, the first two dedicated respectively to the Impressionism and early 20th century collections, the second to Surrealist art, while the general catalog in turn included two collections and many items sold by Phillips of WashingtonDC. The overall result added $304.6 million to Sotheby’s realizations to more than $1.1 billion for the week, with 66 lots sold (after three drawings), just above the overall high estimate of $289 million after commissions were added. Four records were also achieved, all for surrealist works from a second catalog called ‘Exquisite Corpus’ so as not to reveal the identity of the collector.
Pritzker Collection
The evening began with 13 works by big names ranging from Impressionism and the early twentieth century from the collection of Cindy and Jay Pritzker, which sparked various disputes with rising millionaire salaries, bringing a total of 109.5 million dollars, thanks mainly to a Van Gogh still life from late 1887: ”Romans parisiens’ depicts a group of open books and disorganized flowers in a bright home setting, and competed to exceed estimates based on demand of over 40 million, perhaps bringing 62.7 million dollars for an Asian client represented by an art advisor in the room. This is the highest price for a still life painting by the artist; a second work, a 1988 drawing of a public park, reached an estimate of $3 million on commission. The second lot of the collection surpassed the ten million mark and its high estimate was $10.4 million with commission: the sensuous figure of Henri Matisse ‘Leda et le cygne’ painted during the war between 1944 and 1946, easily exceeds third party guarantees; four lots were underwritten by third parties, but only one sold below the low estimate.
The surrealism of the ‘Exquisite Corpus’ catalogue
The second catalog also sparked several bidding competitions, resulting in the 24 lots generating a total of $98.1 million. Also in this case thanks to the results of the record ‘El sueno (La cama)’ by Frida Kahlo, a deeply intimate work with a self-portrait of the artist painted at a dramatic moment in his life, in 1940, started at a third-party guaranteed estimate of 40-60 million dollars and was up for grabs for 54.7 million on commission, more than a thousand times the auction realization in 1980. This is not only a personal record, but also an absolute record for an artist. The catalog also features five other artists associated with the Surrealist movement, with results exceeding expectations for two works Kay Sage sold for 2 million dollars each, a masterpiece Valentine Hugo priced at 825 thousand dollars, eight times the low estimate, one canvas Varo Repair in 1943 for 950 thousand dollars and the second record for a work Dorothea Tanning The 1951 ‘Interior with Sudden Joy’ surpassed its high estimate of $3.2 million including fees.
For once, Magritte was not the protagonist in the Surrealism catalogue, despite earning a total of 11.5 million dollars with five works sold, leaving room for two other records for many artists: ‘Fairy Alaska’ by Wolfgang Paalen in 1937 for $1 million, three times the low estimate, and Hans Bellmer which surpassed its record twice on the same night, the second time with 1958’s ‘Les Bas rayes’ which closed in on the million dollar mark at 943 thousand dollars. A total of 17 lots were guaranteed by third parties, but only two appeared to help sales, while four unsecured lots were sold, significantly reducing their respective reserves, including ‘The Disturbing Muses’ by de Chirico from 1924 it was owned by Breton which justifies its low estimate of 3 million dollars only after the addition of commission.
General catalog of modern art
Closing out the evening were 32 plots from different property catalogues, which came to 29 after three draws including landscaping Monet estimated at 4-6 million dollars, which resulted in proceeds of 97 million dollars with a total of eight third-party guarantees, including all three lots originating from Phillips Collection its sale gave rise to various doubts and contradictions.
