Return to strength for impressionism at the London auctions

Supported by an increasingly dynamic London market the ‘Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sales’ organised by Sotheby’s and Christie’s at their New Bond Street and King Street offices are now as spectacular as in New York. In just 100 lots sold during the two evenings, the auctioneers raised no less than £201 million ($400 million), of which £121 million in the 18 June sale alone organised by Christie’s, a record total for a Fine Art sale in Europe.

It should be said that, after several quiet years, impressionism, the 1989-1990 record holder, is finally seeing a return to strength in London, as is modern art in New York. According to Artprice, the price index for the French impressionists has risen by +67.4% over the last twelve months to 10% above its 1989 level! Together with this price rise, the success of the Christie’s and Sotheby’s auctions was ensured by the inclusion of significant works by Claude Monet as headline lots in their catalogues.
On 18 June, Christie’s presented two major landscapes by Monet: Les arceaux de roses, Giverny, 1913 (est. £9 million-12 million) and Waterloo Bridge, temps couvert, 1904 (£6 million-8 million). Whereas the hammer came down at £8 million for the view of Giverny, an American buyer was keen to bid up to £16 million for the second ($31.6 million). The work had been purchased for $3.1 million in November 1990, at the peak of the speculative bubble at the time. For 24 hours this work held the record for the second highest price at auction for a Monet canvas, just behind Bassin aux nymphéas et sentier au bord de l’eau, 1900, sold for £18 million on 30 June 1998 at Sotheby’s London.
In effect, as of the day after, lot number 7 in the Sotheby’s sale, a view of Nymphéas painted in 1904 with a pre-sale estimate of £10–15 million, saw 4 competitive bidders, finally selling for £16.5 million. Such a concentration of million-ticket sales should guarantee Claude Monet a top three position in the ranking of artists by sale proceeds established by Artprice. Although Claude Monet’s price index (calculated by the hedonic price method), rose by 33% in 2006, the artist held only 14th place in this ranking in that year since no significant work by the artist was sold.

Other than the performance of the star of impressionism, we would highlight, at Sotheby’s, the £9.8 million ($19.4 million) obtained for Henri Matisse’s Danseuse dans le fauteuil, sol en damier, which set a new record for the artist, the previous record dating back to last year with Nu Couché de Dos, sold for $16.5 million at Sotheby’s NY. At Christie’s, Joan Miro’s gouache Le Coq, sold for a record £5.9 million ($11.6 million).