Christie's auction breaks record for Toulouse-Lautrec
A portrait by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec sold for £12.6m (€18.5m) today at a Christie’s sale of Impressionist and Modern paintings and sculptures, the highest auction price ever paid for a work by the artist.
The Laundress, which depicts a red-haired young woman staring out a window, was sold to an anonymous phone bidder. The work, dated 1886-87, had belonged to Chicago collectors Neison and Bette Harris.
The sale marked the beginning of the two-week autumn auction season. It brought in £95.7m (€140m). Five of the 63 pieces did not sell, including the Matisse still life The Daisies, which had been estimated at £5.6m (€8.2m) to £8.5m (€12.5m).
Several pieces sold for far more than the auction house estimate, including an early still life by Paul Cezanne. French dealer Marc Blondeau landed Apples and Cake for £5.8m (€8.5m), more than double the expected price.
Picasso’s 1939 Bust of a Woman, which depicts the artist’s mistress Dora Maar, also sparked a bidding war, surpassing its £2.8m (€4.1m)presale estimate to sell for £3.7m (€5.4m).
A 1907 Monet Waterlilies painting sold for £7.9m (€11.6m).
