Sotheby’s modern evening sale fetched $186.4 million on May 13th. The sale’s most highly anticipated lot—Alberto Giacometti’s Grande tête mince (1955), estimated in excess of $70 million—failed to attract a buyer.
The Giacommeti work—a bronze bust of the artist’s brother Diego—saw bidding stall around the $64 million mark, according to The Art Newspaper. With no pre-sale guarantee for the work, it failed to sell, reportedly drawing gasps from those in attendance.
Of the 65 works offered on the evening, Sotheby’s reported an 83% sell-through rate, which excludes five withdrawn lots. The sale’s leading lot was René Magritte’s La Traversée difficile (1963), which sold for $10.04 million, just above its low estimate of $10 million (all prices include fees). Magritte’s La Bonne aventure (1939) sold within its $3 million–$4 million estimate for $3.34 million.
Some of the auction’s early lots performed well, including Jean Arp’s Figure-germe dite l’apres-midinette (1959), which sold for $3.58 million against a $1.8 million high estimate, and Robert Delaunay’s Nature morte (1936), which fetched $2 million against a $1.5 million high estimate. A lamp designed by Frank Lloyd Wright broke the famed architect’s auction record when it sold for $7.49 million against a $5 million high estimate.
Still, the auction saw several blue-chip works fall below their presale estimates. Joan Miró’s Tête de fumeur (1925) sold for $914,400, below a $1 million low estimate, while Fernand Léger’s La Jeune fille au bouquet (1921) sold for $3.71 million against a $5 million low estimate.
In total, nine lots failed to sell, including pieces by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, Pierre Soulages, and Andrew Wyeth. Withdrawals included works by Winslow Homer, Wassily Kandinsky, Cândido Portinari, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and, during the sale, Rufino Tamayo.
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