52 lots out of the 58 on offer sold at Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening sale in New York on November 11, totalling $191.9 million / £150 million. Although within the estimate range, the total for the sale was down 31% from last year’s November figures.
René Magritte’s Le seize septembre (1957) was the top lot of the night, easily beating its high estimate with a hammer price of $19.6m or £15.3m (including buyer’s premium).
Second to the top was Umberto Boccioni’s Forme uniche della continuità nello spazio (Unique Forms of Continuity in Space), which sold for $16.2m or £12.7m setting a new auction record for the artist.
The first four lots – including the top lot and a Picasso painting which realised $13.3m – are understood to have come from the James and Marilynn Aldorf Collection, among 13 which were on offer from the renowned Chicago-based collectors. The Aldorf collection achieved a total of $42.6m or £33.2m.
According to Christie’s, it was a good night for Surrealism, too, with impressive results for works by Dalí, Tanguy and Magritte, including Le Sabbat from 1959, which realised $9.9 million / £7.8 million.
The Day Sale at Christie’s continues on November 12, with several sculptures by Gauguin, Gris and Dalí.
Click here to read more about the November auction season.
