MIXED RESULTS FOR SOTHEBY’S AND CHRISTIE’S IMPRESSIONIST AND MODERN ART AUCTIONS

Buyers rejected a quarter of the works for sale at Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern art auction last night, as the auction house fell short of its low estimate in the sale for the first time in more than two years, reports Bloomberg‘s Lindsay Pollock and Philip Boroff. The results totaled $269.7 million, well under the presale low estimate of $355.6 million and barely half the high estimate of $494.2 million. A van Gogh estimated to sell for as much as $35 million failed to draw a single bidder. Tuesday night’s Impressionist and modern auction at competitor Christie’s International totaled $395 million, in the lower half of its presale estimated range of $349 million to $487 million. Still, it was the second-biggest art auction ever held, with Matisse’s L’Odalisque, harmonie bleue, 1937, setting an auction record for the artist at $33.64 million.