It was a hit or miss sale at Sotheby's last night. Of the 62 lots offered, 21 failed to sell -- leaving a sell through rate of just 66%. The total take for the evening was $144.5M (with the commissions added in) and that was far below the low end of their estimate of $164.8M (without fees). There were no blockbuster works on offer and the top lot was a Rodin marble at $20.4M. Some other highlights included a Vlaminck at $16.4M, a very small Signac at $10.7M and three Monets that all sold. Among the big failures were Derain's “Les Voiles Rouges”, a Fauvist painting that carried a $15-$20M estimate, a few Picassos, an Ernst, two Edvard Munchs and a few others.
What does this say about the market? Good works are going to sell and the B level works are going to have a tough time. It is time for slimmer and trimmer sales. For more, you can use the following links:
Article by Scott Reyburn & Robin Pogrebin - NY Times
Article by Katya Kazakina - WSJ
Auguste Rodin “L’Eternel Printemps”