NEW YORK, NY.- In the wake of the “white glove” success of the collection of Leonard A. Lauder on Tuesday evening, further exceptional collections were presented for sale in Sotheby’s new home at the Breuer on Thursday night. Across the week, collectors in Asia asserted their presence, bidding on and taking home major masterworks.

Turning to the “white glove” auction of The Cindy and Jay Pritzker Collection, Vincent van Gogh’s Piles de romans parisiens et roses dans une verre (Romans parisiens) achieved US$62.7m, selling to Patti Wong, of Patti Wong C Associates, bidding in the room on behalf of a client. The excitement carried through into the next sale of some 24 works from ‘Exquisite Corpus’ - a once-in-a-lifetime collection of Surrealist art. Frida Kahlo’s El sueño (La cama) led the offering, selling for US$54.7m - an auction record for any work by a woman artist.

STRONG PARTICIPATION FROM COLLECTORS IN ASIA

“Our evening sales were a resounding success and send a strong signal for the art market. We concluded the largest evening of sales in our history, including the most valuable work of art ever sold at Sotheby’s. Coupled with record-breaking levels of visitors to our exhibitions, this is the perfect inauguration for our new headquarters at the Breuer.” -- Charles F. Stewart, Sotheby’s Chief Executive Officer

“Collectors in Asia have long been key participants in the art market, and their engagement already this season shows how powerfully they mobilise when works of exceptional quality come to auction. The competition we witnessed for the Klimts, Monet, Magritte, Basquiat, Martin, Klein, Munch and others, underscores just how deeply they value works of truly outstanding caliber. Their participation - at the very highest level - continues to be a defining force in the global market.” Evelyn Lin, Chairman, Modern s Contemporary Art, Sotheby’s Asia

Strong participation from Asia continued following Tuesday’s result which included The Now C Contemporary auction, led by Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Crowns (Peso Neto) that went to an Asia collector, taking the top spot with a final bid of US$48.3m (est $35-45m), executed by Jen Hua, Deputy Chairman of Sotheby’s Asia C Chairman of Sotheby’s China.

There was active bidding from Asia during the sale of The Cindy and Jay Pritzker Collection on: Pissarro (lot 7); acquisitions of Matisse (lot 9) and Léger (lot 10), and underbid Miró (lot 12).

In the ‘Exquisite Corpus’ Evening Auction, collectors in Asia acquired: Ernst (lot 3), de Chirico (lot 8), and a second work by Magritte (lot 22). They also bid on Dalí (lot 5) and directly underbid Bellmer (lot 21).

Strong bidding continued into the Modern Evening Auction, for Miró (lot 101) and Monet (lot 125).