NEW YORK, NY.- “Tonight’s results speak for themselves and today’s efficient marketplace – collectors have a remarkable understanding not only of quality, but also of value,” commented Simon Shaw, Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art department in New York. “The key is matching their discerning taste with the right combination of fresh material and responsible estimates, and we did that this evening.”

Sale Total: $290,244,000
81.2% Sold by Lot
Sale Estimate $212.9/307.9 million
New World Auction Records Set for 6 Artists

• $290.2 million marks the second-highest total for an evening auction of Impressionist & Modern Art at Sotheby’s worldwide, following the May 2012 auction in which Edvard Munch’s The Scream set a new world auction record for any work of art at $119.9 million

• Global participation was evident throughout the sale process, with works consigned from 13 countries sought after by participants from 36 countries, representing both established and emerging markets

• Including record levels of participation from both Asia and Latin America

• Tonight’s selling-through rate of 81.2% by lot marks the 4th consecutive Evening Sale of Impressionist & Modern Art at Sotheby’s worldwide with a sell-through rate over 80%

• 94.2% of sold works brought prices at or above their estimates

• The top lot of the auction was Alberto Giacometti’s Grande tête mince (Grande tête de Diego) that achieved $50,005,000, meeting its high estimate.

• Never before offered at auction, the sculpture has remained in the same private collection since 1980

• Works by Pablo Picasso brought exceptional prices throughout the night, led by Tête de femme, his 1935 portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter that fetched $39,925,000 – well in excess of its $30 million high estimate.

• Mousquetaire à la pipe set a new auction record for a late work by the artist at $30,965,000, soaring above its $18 million high estimate

• The private collection Futur! Masterworks of the Avant-Garde totaled $64.3 million, led by Italian Futurist Giacomo Balla’s Automobile in corsa that sold for $11,477,000 (est. $12/18 million) – a new auction record for the artist

• New auction records set in the collection for 4 artists, with the record for Francis Picabia set twice

• Formed with the help of the legendary Alain Tarica during the late 1960s and early 1970s

• Strong prices for Impressionist works were led by Claude Monet’s Glaçons, effet blanc that brought $16,125,000, above a high estimate of $14 million

• The Zieseniss Collection of Impressionist pictures totaled $18,316,000 with all 8 lots sold, including a new auction record for Gustave Courbet at $3,749,000

• Assembled in Paris in the early 20th century by Christian Otto Zieseniss, a pioneering German-American stockbroker and diplomat, and descended through the Zieseniss family to the present owner