Two paintings by French Impressionist Claude Monet led a Sotheby’s Paris sale of modern and contemporary art on Thursday that racked up €35 million ($41 million). That figure is up more than 84 percent on the equivalent sale from last year and exceeds the pre-sale estimate of €22.4–€32.1 million ($26.6–$37.8 million). The total was the house’s second-highest ever in France for a sale in the category. Nearly 63 percent of lots sold above their high estimates, and 66 percent of lots were making their auction debut.
“Today’s results mark a defining moment for Sotheby’s and for Paris more widely,” Thomas Bompard, co-head of modern and contemporary art, Sotheby’s Paris, said in a statement. “From the extraordinary Monet prices achieved, to the electric atmosphere and spirited bidding that animated a packed saleroom, the auction captured a market alive with confidence as collectors from around the world leaned in, competed, and ultimately turned their eyes once again to Paris.”
The sale was led by Monet’s Vétheuil, effet du matin (1901), which, at €10.2 million ($12.1 million), established the highest price for a work by the artist at auction in France, while the artist’s Les Îles de Port-Villez (1883) fetched €6.5 million ($7.6 million).
Vétheuil, effet du matin had been unseen in public for some 98 years, and had been in the same French private collection for more than five decades. The piece exceeded its €6–€8 million ($7.1–$9.5 million) estimate after 10 minutes of bidding.
Claude Monet, Les Îles de Port-Villez (1883).
Eléa Lefèvre
Les Îles de Port-Villez (1883), measuring just under three feet wide, was shown publicly for the first time in 115 years and exceeded its €3–€5 million ($3.5 million to $5.9 million) estimate.
Also selling well were a group of seven original gouaches by Marc Chagall from his “Circus” series, that came directly from the artist’s estate and were the first ever to appear at auction. Two sold above estimate for €1.1 million ($1.4 million) each. Lucio Fontana’s Concetto Spaziale, Attese (1968), a sapphire‑blue canvas cut by two vertical slashes, exceeded estimate, selling for €2 million ($2.4 million).
Other works exceeding estimate and fetching six-figure prices were Rembrandt Bugatti’s bronze Tigre royal (conceived ca. 1913–14, cast in bronze between 1922 and 1927), in the same private collection since 1927, which sold for €1.7 million ($1.9 million), and Chu Teh-Chun‘s painting Le son des cuivres II (1988), which doubled its high estimate to achieve €1.2 million ($1.4 million). Selling for almost four times its high estimate was Gerhard Richter’s Untitled (9. Nov. 1995), which sold for €473,600 ($558,659).
