Sotheby’s modern evening sale fetched $186.4 million on May 13th.. The sale’s most highly anticipated lot—Alberto Giacometti’s Grande tête mince (1955), estimated in excess of $70 million—failed to attract a buyer. All prices include fees.
The Giacommeti work—a bronze bust of the artist’s brother Diego—saw bidding stall around the $64 million mark, according to The Art Newspaper. With no pre-sale guarantee for the work, it failed to sell, reportedly drawing gasps from those in attendance.
Of the 65 works offered on the evening, Sotheby’s reported an 83% sell-through rate, which excludes five withdrawn lots. The sale’s leading lot was René Magritte’s La Traversée difficile (1963), which sold for $10.04 million, just above its low estimate of $10 million. Magritte’s La Bonne aventure (1939) sold within its $3 million–$4 million estimate for $3.34 million.
Some of the auction’s early lots performed well, including Jean Arp’s Figure-germe dite l’apres-midinette (1959), which sold for $3.58 million against a $1.8 million high estimate, and Robert Delaunay’s Nature morte (1936), which fetched $2 million against a $1.5 million high estimate. A lamp designed by Frank Lloyd Wright broke the famed architect’s auction record when it sold for $7.49 million against a $5 million high-estimate.
Still, the auction saw several blue-chip works fall below their pre-sale estimates. Joan Miró’s Tête de fumeur (1925) sold for $914,400, below a $1 million low-estimate, while Fernand Léger’s La Jeune fille au bouquet (1921) sold for $3.71 million against a $5 million low-estimate.
In total, nine lots failed to sell, including pieces by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Edgar Degas, Pierre Soulages, and Andrew Wyeth. Withdrawals included works by Winslow Homer, Wassily Kandinsky, Cândido Portinari, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and, during the sale, Rufino Tamayo.
