ZURICH.-In Zurich on 5th June 2007 the Swiss art sale held by Sotheby's was the most successful ever at any auction house. Totaling CHF 25,074,500 ($20,498,905) against a pre-sale estimate of CHF 13.2-18.2, the sale was 94.9% sold by value and 81.1% by lot.

In a packed room, two new world records were broken that evening - Nocturnal Winter Landscape with Piz da la Margna (1913) by Giovanni Giacometti achieved almost CHF 3.2 million ($2.6) and View of the Lake of Geneva from Saint-Prex, painted by Ferdinand Hodler in 1901 sold for an outstanding CHF 10.9 million.

Sotheby's have sold the two most expensive paintings by this famous Swiss artist to come onto the market. The last record price achieved for a work by Ferdinand Hodler was set at Sotheby's Zürich in December 2006 when "Thunersee mit Stockhornkette" fetched 5.7 million.