NEW YORK.- Sotheby’s began its auction season with the Impressionist and modern art auction on Tuesday. The painting "Dans les roses (Madame Leon Clapisson" by Auguste Renoir was sold for $23.5 million to casino businessman Steve Wynn. At the sale, two of the top four lots went unsold. The total of the evening sale was $65,604,000, short of the pre-sale estimate of $70.9 million to $99.4 million. David Norman, Sotheby’s co-chairman of Impressionist and modern art said, "We’re all thrilled with the results of tonight’s sale. We really believed you could damage the prospect of selling even a very fine work if it was overestimated." Only 72 % of the 39 lots were sold, and of those sold, 90 % were sold within or above their pre-sale estimates. According to Charles Moffett, Sotheby’s co-chairman of Impressionist and modern art , Steve Wynn will display the Renoir publicly as part of the Wynn collection in Las Vegas. Two very important works failed to sell. One was a Giacometti sculpture titled "La clairiere" and estimated at $8 million to $10 million. The other was Kazimir Malevich’s "Suprematist Painting, Rectangle and Circle" ($5  million to $7 million).
The auction set new records for four artists: Max Liebermann, Paul Serusier, Alexander Archipenko and Andre Masson.