$66 million Van Gogh leads Sotheby’s Impressionist sale

Detail of L'Allee des Alyscamps by Vincent Van Gogh. Image courtesy of Sotheby's.

Last night the Impressionist and Modern art evening sale took place at Sotheby’s New York bringing in a total of $368.3 million.

Sotheby’s sold took $368.3 million at its New York Impressionist and Modern art evening sale last night.

The most expensive work was Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘L’Allée des Alyscamps’ which sold for $66.3 million. The painting depicts a boulevard Alyscamps, just outside of Arles in the south of France, painted in autumnal colours.

‘Nympheas’, one of Claude Monet’s water lilies works, sold for $54.1 million, well over the $30 million to 40 million estimate. Five other Monet were in the auction, two beat their top estimates one did not sell.

Pablo Picasso’s ‘Femme au Chignon dans un Fauteuil’, a vibrant oil painting, sold for $29.9 million, more than double its low estimate of $12 million.

The auction consisted of 64 works. Some 15 works did not sell, giving Sotheby’s a 78% success rate. Only seven works sold for less than one million.

Today the Impressionist and Modern art day sale will take place. The sale is expected to be led by Fernand Léger ‘Les Plongers en Rouge et Bleu’ which is estimated to sell for between $1.2 million and $1.8 million.

Christie’s have moved their Impressionist and Modern art sales from the first week of May to later in the month to coincide with their Post War and Contemporary art auctions.