Picasso Painting Fetches $31.5 Million at Sotheby’s Sale – interesting sale this evening. Big estimates for just average works … pre-sale estimate was $218M – $317M and the final total, with the buyer’s premium, was $219M. Now, $219M is a lot of money, but the sale fell well short of the estimate (remember, the pre-sale estimates do not include the buyer’s premium while the final tally does). There were 71 works in the sale and just 50 sold (70.4%) … yikes! Top seller for the day was Picasso’s Le Sauvetage at $31.5M (est. $14-$18M). My personal favorite was Sisley’s Les Carrières à Veneux au soleil – le matin. A beautiful work from 1880 which carried a $2M-$3M estimate and sold for $3.75M.
Alfred Sisley
“Les Carrières à Veneux au soleil – le matin”