Van Gogh painting fetches $40m
2006-05-03 07:56
New York - A van Gogh portrait of a French cafe owner sold for more than $40m at the season's first major Impressionist and modern art sale on Tuesday.
Christie's took in a total of $180.2m from the sale, which was led by the 1890 van Gogh work, L'Arlesienne, Madame Ginoux, which went for $40.3m.
It was the fourth-highest price obtained for a van Gogh
painting at auction, Christie's said.
That was the auction house's highest total since May 1990,
when a market driven largely by speculation at the hands of
Japanese buyers gave way to the crash of the early 1990s.
Bidding war for Picasso
Sluggish economic conditions did not deter bidders from
paying $34.7m for Picasso's 1932 work The Rest. The
vibrant, large-scale depiction of the artist's wife, Olga, was
estimated to fetch $15m to $20m, but a bidding
war erupted.
Auctioneer Christopher Burge said the sale reflected "right
across the board a solid, strong market, without being a crazy
market." The prices, he added, were "not in any way out of
control".
In all, 43 of the 50 lots on offer found buyers. Bidding
was more restrained than at some of the more freewheeling sales
of recent seasons, but determined bidders drove up the prices
of several Picassos and a Kandinsky.
Healthy, stable art market
"The art market is incredibly healthy and stable," said Guy
Bennett, Christie's head of Impressionist and modern art.
Other highlights from the sale included a pair of Henry
Moore sculptures, Large Four Piece Reclining Figure and
Reclining Figure, which went for $5m and $3.6m respectively. Kandinsky's Pfeile (Arrows), soared to $3.8m, more than twice its high estimate.
The spring sales continue on Wednesday when Sotheby's
holds its Impressionist and modern art auction, and
both houses will host their contemporary and post-war art sales
next week.