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New York art auction houses set for billion dollar sale Claude Monet water lilies painting sells for $43m in New York
(about 17 hours later)
More than $1 billion (£626 million) worth of art will come under the hammer in New York's autumn art auctions, which start later. One of Claude Monet's famous water lily paintings has sold for $43.7m (£27m) at a New York auction.
Highlights of the four nights of sales include works by Picasso, Monet, Rothko and Andy Warhol. A painting by Wassily Kandinsky also sold for $23m at the Christie's auction of impressionist and modern art, setting a record for the artist.
Officials from the auction houses Sotheby's and Christie's have described the current art market as "exuberant". Works by Picasso and Miro also went under the hammer in the first of two weeks of major auctions in New York.
Earlier this year Edvard Munch's The Scream set a new auction record for art when it sold for $120m (£75m). However, about 30% of the 69 paintings up for auction failed to find buyers, Reuters reported.
Experts have said there is little chance of that record being surpassed but expect Claude Monet's Nympheas and Mark Rothko's No1 (Royal Red and Blue) to be sold for about $50m (£31m). Monet's oil-on-canvas Nympheas - painting in 1905 during the artist's years at Giverny - reached the high end of its $30m-$50m pre-sale estimate.
Brooke Lampley, Christie's head of Impressionist and Modern Art, ascribed the inflationary bubble in the art world to growing demand. Kandinsky's vibrant work Studie fur Improvisation 8 had been estimated to fetch between $20m-$30m and was sold by Switzerland's Volkart Foundation.
"Participation in our major sales is more global than ever, with buyers from growing markets in South America, Asia and the Middle East," she said. The price broke the Russian artist's previous record of $20.9m for Fugue set in 1990.
The company's Americas chairman, Marc Porter, said the high quality of lots at Christie's Post-Impressionist and Contemporary auctions was in part due to what he called "discretionary sellers" - collectors who decide to realise their assets. The bronze La Jambe by Alberto Giacometti sold for $11.3m and the painting Peinture (Femme, journal, chien) by Spanish artist Joan Miro, sold for $13.7m.
Art bubble Picasso's Buste de femme fetched $13m.
Analysts have said rising prices for the rarest works have encouraged owners to offer prized possessions for sale. Among the works that failed to sell were the Picasso sculpture, Coq, estimated at $10m-$15m, and works by Chagall and Degas.
With new buyers from China, Russia and Qatar willing to pay what it takes to secure iconic works, the prices at auction have risen sharply. Some experts have warned the disparity between art values and the broader economy cannot continue and that while the most coveted works are rising in value, other sectors of the art market are less buoyant.
But some experts have warned the disparity between art values and the broader economy cannot continue and that while the most coveted works are rising in value, other sectors of the art market are less buoyant. Nevertheless, Brooke Lampley, head of Impressionist and modern art at Christie's, said it was a "very, very strong sale, with great results".
The four nights of sales at Sotheby's and Christie's get under way later with Christie's Impressionist and Modern Sale. Its highlight is expected to be Monet's Nympheas. Later on Thursday Sotheby's will belatedly stage its own Impressionist auction. The sale has been delayed for three days because of superstorm Sandy.
On Thursday Sotheby's will belatedly stage its own Impressionist auction. The sale has been delayed for three days because of the damage caused to New York and its infrastructure by superstorm Sandy.
Among the 68 lots there is much interest in Pablo Picasso's Still Life with Tulips, painted in 1932 in under three hours.Among the 68 lots there is much interest in Pablo Picasso's Still Life with Tulips, painted in 1932 in under three hours.
This disguised portrait of his mistress, Marie Therese Walter, fetched $28.6m (£17.8m) when it was last sold in 2000. Its estimate this time round is between $35m (£22m) and $50m (£31.2m).
Next week the two auction houses stage their contemporary sales, where works include Jean-Michel Basquiat's Untitled 1981. Its sale could set a new record for the painter.Next week the two auction houses stage their contemporary sales, where works include Jean-Michel Basquiat's Untitled 1981. Its sale could set a new record for the painter.
Basquiat rose from being an obscure graffiti artist in New York to become one of the city's most lionised artists before his death of a heroin overdose in 1988.Basquiat rose from being an obscure graffiti artist in New York to become one of the city's most lionised artists before his death of a heroin overdose in 1988.