“The work was painted on a panel, not a canvas, and people don’t like that,” van de Weghe said about why he thought the purple-robed Maar didn’t stir stronger interest.
“The Langen Picasso was the bargain of the sale in my eyes,” said London-based art adviser Patrick Legant.
Bronze Sculpture
A few minutes later Gray outbid dealer Robert Mnuchin to win Alberto Giacometti’s bronze sculpture “Femme de Venise IV” for $12.7 million, within the estimated range. The work’s consignor bought it for $2.8 million in 2000 at Sotheby’s in London.
A 1909 Wassily Kandinsky painting “Strandszene (Beach Scene),” fetched $17.2 million with the premium. The colorful canvas from the Langen collection was estimated at $16 million to $22 million
Picasso made up 13 lots, with works from his Cubist, Surrealist and neo-Classical periods, as well as portraits of his lovers Marie-Therese Walter, Dora Maar and Jacqueline Roque. All but one of the lots found buyers.
Modigliani’s portrait of a young man with red hair inspired one of the most heated bidding wars of the evening, surging from the opening bid $6 million to the final bid of $15.6 million. The price of $17.6 million surpassed the high estimate of $12 million. The consigner bought the work for $8.5 million at Sotheby’s in 2002.
The auction prices include the buyer’s premium, while the estimates don’t.