COVID-19 Latest
World|art & entertainment|November 7, 2014 / 10:32 AM
Edouard Manet canvas sets record at Christie's $166-million sale of Impressionist art

AKIPRESS.COM - ManetA celebrated 1881 portrait by French Impressionist Edouard Manet on Wednesday smashed the record for the artist when it sold for $65.1 million at Christie's, going far towards the auction house's solid total takings of $165.6 million.

"Le Printemps," an oil painting owned by the same family for a century, had been estimated to sell for as much as $35 million, but half a dozen bidders competing for the work, most of them via telephone, helped drive up the price, reports Reuters.

The sale, including Christie's commission of just over 12 percent, nearly doubled the previous record of $33.2 million for a Manet, set in 2010 by "Self Portrait with a Palette."

The strong results were a testament to "the widespread interest in Impressionist and modern art," said Doug Woodham, president of Christie's Americas.

For a second consecutive night, collectors of increasingly rare Impressionist and modern trophy works spent heavily.

The auction was a far more modest affair than Tuesday's record sale at rival Sotheby's, which saw the highest auction total in its 270-year history, but managed to beat even the high pre-sale estimate of $157 million.

Christie's officials worked to keep estimates conservative, and the strategy paid off handsomely as more than half the offerings exceeded the high estimate. Four of 39 went unsold.

All rights reserved

© AKIpress News Agency - 2001-2024.

Republication of any material is prohibited without a written agreement with AKIpress News Agency.

Any citation must be accompanied by a hyperlink to akipress.com.

Our address:

299/5 Chingiz Aitmatov Prosp., Bishkek, the Kyrgyz Republic

e-mail: english@akipress.org, akipressenglish@gmail.com;

Follow us:

Log in


Forgot your password? - recover

Not registered yet? - sign-up

Sign-up

I have an account - log in

Password recovery

I have an account - log in