LONDON.- Yesterday,
Sothebys London June Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale brought a total of £14,622,250/$23,484,796 /16,436,842, bringing the total for the June Impressionist & Modern Art sale series to £111,590,250 / $181,028,706 / ¤125,012,186, comfortably within the combined presale estimate of £91,989,000-132,214,000 / $103,064,905-148,132,751 / 149,181,313-214,417,225
James Mackie, Director & Acting Head of Sothebys Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale, commented: Todays sale saw strong prices achieved for Modern masters, with Alberto Giacometti, Marc Chagall and Salvador Dalì attracting competitive bidding from international buyers, and earlier works were also well represented and sought after by collectors.
The highest price of the weeks sales was established at Sothebys with the sale of Egon Schieles 1914 cityscape Häuser mit bunter Wäsche (Vorstadt II) / Houses with Laundry (Suburb II), which commanded £24,681,250 / $40,099,627 / 27,635,665 665 (est. £22-30 million / $35.4-48.5 million), almost double the previous record for the artist at auction. The monumental work, sold by the Leopold Museum in Vienna , was acquired by an anonymous telephone bidder.
Records were also set for Marc Chagalls Au-Dessus de la ville, which soared past the high estimate of £850,000 to sell for £1,833,250 / $2,978,481 / 2,052,695, setting a record for a work on paper by the artist, and Tamara de Lempickas sensual La Dormeuse of 1930 sold for £4,073,250 / $6,617,809 / 4,560,830 (est. £2.2-£3.2 million), establishing a record for the artist at auction in US dollars.