Manet Sets $33.1 Million Record, Auction Hits Target as Two-Week Marathon Begins
LONDON (REUTERS).- Sotheby’s sold an Edouard Manet self-portrait for 22.4 million pounds ($33.1 million) on Tuesday, a record for the artist but toward the lower end of pre-sale expectations of 20-30 million pounds.
The painting, one of only two self-portraits by the artist and the only one in private hands, was the centerpiece of the auctioneer’s main impressionist and modern art sale in London this summer.
Overall the auction fetched 112.1 million pounds, within expectations of 101-148 million pounds, although the sale tally included buyer’s premium while the estimate did not.
View of French Impressionist Edouard Manet's Self Portrait , 1878-1879, which sold at auction at Sotheby's in London, for $33.1 Million Tuesday June 22, 2010. AP Photo/Max Nash
Three works of art sold for eight figures — Manet’s “Self Portrait With a Palette, Andre Derain’s “Arbres a Collioure, which sold for 16.3 million pounds, double the previous record for the artist, and Henri Matisse’s “Odalisques jouant aux dames” (11.8 million pounds).
Sotheby’s said the results were “strong,” although the auction total was smaller than the equivalent sale in London in February which raised 146.8 million pounds.
Alberto Giacometti’s “L’homme qui marche I” sold for 65 million pounds, which was then a world record for any work of art at auction.
Christie’s, Sotheby’s main rival, holds its main sale on Wednesday, and expects to sell art worth 164-231 million pounds. If it makes even the lower end of the target, it would set a record for an art sale in London.
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