SOTHEBY’S EVENING SALE OF
IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART
TOTALS $209 MILLION IN NEW YORK

* 84% Sold by Lot *
Marking Sotheby’s 4th-Consecutive
Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale Sold Over 80%

AUCTION LED BY:
Claude Monet’s Charing Cross Bridge
Achieves $27.6 Million
* Sotheby’s Fourth-Consecutive Evening Sale Led by Monet *

Classic Impressionist Paintings by
Gustave Caillebotte & Paul Signac
Achieve $19.7 Million & $16.2 Million, Respectively

At Least Seven Bidders Compete for Alberto Giacometti’s
Bust of His Brother Diego,
Selling for $14.3 Million and Leading the Night’s Sculpture

A NEW WORLD AUCTION RECORD
FOR TAMARA DE LEMPICKA:
La Tunique rose From 1927 Fetches $13.4 Million

Sotheby’s Global Sales of Impressionist & Modern Art
Cross $900 Million To-Date in 2019

NEW YORK, 12 November 2019 – August Uribe, Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Department in New York, commented: “Tonight marks the fourth consecutive Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale at Sotheby’s to be led by Claude Monet, demonstrating the continued strength of the auction market for this iconic artist. In total, nine works by Monet have achieved a market-leading $292 million across our international salesrooms this year alone. Charing Cross Bridge was one of the many works appearing at auction tonight for the first time, having remained in the private collection of Andrea Klepetar-Fallek for more than 40 years. This is a sophisticated market that responds to the very best, and we saw international competition tonight for fresh works of the highest quality.”

Julian Dawes, Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sales in New York, said: “Tonight’s sale reflected the depth and strength of the Impressionist & Modern art market at every level. We witnessed heated bidding between at least seven collectors for Alberto Giacometti’s bust of his brother Diego, which brought one of the top prices for this iconic subject, as well as competition for Tamara de Lempicka’s sensual portrait La Tunique rose, which achieved a new auction record for the artist. Across the breadth of our collecting field, it was clear that there is continued growth and opportunity in this market.”

Tonight’s sale was led by Claude Monet’s Charing Cross Bridge from 1903, which sold for $27.6 million, one of the finest examples from Monet’s seminal London series ever to appear at auction. Previously in the collection of Andrea Klepetar-Fallek for the past 40 years, the luminous canvas achieved the highest auction price for the subject by Monet. The previous auction record of $4.1 million was established in 1992, with only one other painting of Charing Cross Bridge appearing at auction since 2000.

The painting joins a group of nine works by Monet that Sotheby’s sold in 2019 for a total of $222.6 million. Each of Sotheby’s four Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sales in 2019 have been led by a Monet painting, one of which, Meules from 1890, established a new world auction record for the artist when it sold for an astounding $110.7 million this past May in New York.

A new world auction record was established for Tamara de Lempicka when La Tunique rose bested the $8 million high estimate to sell to applause for $13.4 million. Painted in 1927, the seductive canvas depicts one of Lempicka’s most famed muses and lovers, Rafaëla, and is a rare example of the female artist’s full-length figures. The previous auction record for Lempicka was established in November 2018, when La Musicienne from 1929 sold for $9.1 million.

The selection of sculpture on offer was led by Alberto Giacometti’s Buste d’homme (Diego au blouson), which soared past its $8 million high estimate to fetch $14.3 million after a 6-minute bidding battle between at least 7 collectors. Having remained in the same private collection since 1987, the magnificent bronze sculpture depicts the artist’s brother and one of his most frequent subjects, Diego, and dates from the most important period in Giacometti’s oeuvre – the mid-to-late 1940s and early 1950s, a period in which the artist created his most celebrated and best-known works.

Other sculpture highlights included Auguste Rodin’s Cariatide tombée portant sa pierre, agrandissement d'un tiers – an eloquent representation of Rodin’s artistic vision and sheer mastery of the medium, which bested the $6 million high estimate to realize $7.6 million. Sold on behalf of the  Ruthmere Museum in Elkhart, Indiana, the captivating work is an incredibly rare example of Rodin’s limestone sculptures and depicts one of the artist’s most recognizable and sought-after subjects, originally designed as part of Rodin’s monumental Gates of Hell. The work was commissioned from the artist by collector Berthe Dumon, who became entranced by a plaster form of the work during a visit to Rodin’s studio in February 1894.

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