Even with Modigliani’s record-setting Nu Couché, Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale fell flat with only 70 percent sold by lot. The sum of hammer prices failed to meet the sum of low estimates of all lots. Many top lots were hammered down at their low estimates or even below.

Nu Couché, measuring nearly 147 centimeters across, is the largest painting of Modigliani’s entire oeuvre. Estimated at US$150m, the painting was billed as the artwork with the highest estimate ever offered at auction.

Before the sale began, the painting was guaranteed to sell with an irrevocable bid. Yet, the bidding atmosphere was less than satisfactory as both bidders in the room and telephone bidders showed a tepid response. The painting was hammered down at US$139m and sold for US$157m with premium included, setting the highest auction price in Sotheby’s history, as well as the record for the fourth most expensive painting sold at auction.

Responding to a great demand for Picasso’s works at auctions, this sale offered eleven works by the Spanish painter. The second top lot went to Picasso’s Le Repos, estimated at US$25m-35m. The painting depicts Marie-Thérèse Walter, one of the artist’s golden muses, who was only seventeen years old when they first met on the streets of Paris in 1927. 

The painting heated up the saleroom with an intense bidding from bidders in the room and telephone bidders fighting over it. The client represented by Patti Wong, Chairman of Sotheby’s Asia, joined the competition from US$21m and successfully deterred other rivals by showing absolute determination.  

The telephone bidder prevailed in the bidding when the hammer was brought down at US$32.5m, taking home the desired piece for US$36.9m with buyer’s premium.  

Another top lot at the sale was Monet’s Matinée sur la Seine. During the summer and early fall of 1896 and 1897, Monet woke up well before dawn in his house in Giverny. He would work on numerous canvases as the sun rose. The present work was one of the paintings from the series created in that period.

The auctioneer started the bidding at US$13m and hastily put the hammer down at US$18m, the low estimate of the painting. The work was sold for US$20.5m with buyer’s premium.

Picasso drew the attention of the sale again with his other paintings from different period. Painted in 1905, Famille D'Arlequin is an example of Picasso’s celebrated Rose period. Different from the works from the preceding Blue Period which were heavily loaded with blue tones, Rose Period paintings adopted vivid hues of red, orange, pink tones. The work was sold for US$11.5m with premium included to the same buyer, probably an Asian collector, who had previously won the bidding of Picasso’s Le Repos.

Nevertheless, Picasso was not fail-safe since another one of his work, Femme Au Chien, ended up being bought-in against its presale estimate of US$12m-18m.  It was painted six months before the breakdown of Picasso’s relationship with Françoise Gilot.

Out of 46 lots offered, the sale recorded 13 passed lots and one withdrawn lot , delivering a 70 percent sold by lots. The sum of hammer prices was US$277m, shy of US$307m, the sum of low estimates US$307m.

 

Top four lots

Amedeo Modigliani. Nu couché (sur le côté gauche).

Lot no.: 18
Created in: 1917
Size: 89.5 x 146.7cm
Provenance:

• Léopold Zborowski, Paris (acquired from the artist)
• Jonas Netter, Paris (acquired by 1926)
• Private Collection, Paris (by descent from the above)
• Private Collection, United States (acquired from the above and sold: Christie’s, New York, November 4, 2003, lot 29)
• Acquired at the above sale

Estimate: US$150,000,000
Hammer price: US$139,000,000
Price realized: US$157,159,000

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). Le Repos.

Lot no.: 8
Created in: 1932
Size: 46 x 46cm
Provenance:

• Galerie Georges Petit, Paris
• Zwemmer Gallery, London (acquired by 1948)
  Estimate: US$25,000,000 - 35,000,000
  Hammer price: US$32,500,000
  Price realized: US$36,920,500
• Marlborough Fine Art, Ltd., London
• Illa Kodicek, London (sold: Christie’s, London, June 23, 1993, lot 318)
• Private Collection, London (acquired at the above sale and sold: Sotheby’s, New York, November 9, 2000, lot 37)
• Acquired at the above sale

Estimate: US$25,000,000 - 35,000,000
Hammer price: US$32,500,000
Price realized: US$36,920,500

Claude Monet (1840-1926). Matinée sur la Seine.

Lot no.: 15
Created in: 1896
Size: 89.2 x 92.4cm
Provenance:

• Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the artist in October 1911)
• Joseph F. Flanagan, Boston & New York (acquired from the above in 1912 and sold: American Art Association of New York, New York, January 14, 1920, lot 59
• M. Knoedler & Co., Inc. & Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York (acquired jointly at the above sale)
• Durand-Ruel Galleries, New York (acquired by 1930)
• Col. Albert E. Pierce. New York, Chicago & Warrenton, Virginia (acquired from the above in 1930)
• Sotheby's, London, December 2, 1970, lot 22) George Encil, Canada (sold:
• Stephen Hahn Art Gallery, New York (acquired at the above sale)
• Private Collection, California (acquired by circa 1974)
• Private Collection, Japan (acquired by 1987)
• Private Collection, New York (sold: Sotheby's, New York, November 9, 2000, lot 24)
• Acquired at the above sale

Estimate: US$18,000,000 - 25,000,000
Hammer price: US$18,000,000
Price realized: US$20,550,000

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). Famille D'Arlequin.

Lot no.: 20
Created in: 1905
Size: 29.5 x 21.5cm
Provenance:Private Collection, Cologne (acquired from the artist in 1910)
Private Collection, Cologne (acquired from the above in 1929 and sold: Sotheby's, London, November 25, 1959, lot 61)
M. Knoedler & Co., London & New York (acquired at the above sale)
Joan Whitney Payson, Manhasset, NY (acquired from the above)
Private Collection, United States (by descent from the above and sold: Sotheby’s, New York, May 8, 2007, lot 21)
Acquired at the above sale
Estimate: US$12,000,000 - 18,000,000
Hammer price: US$10,000,000
Price realized: US$11,518,000

 

Auction summary

Auction house: Sotheby’s New York
Sale: Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale
Lots offered: 46
Sold: 32
Unsold: 14
Sold by lot: 70%
Sale total: US$318,313,600