Wrong impression?

7 May 2008 By Jeff Segal

Paragons of the art world like Monet and Giacometti are hushing Cassandras with record prices. But that’s only part of the picture. Sure, gushing petrowealth and the weak dollar are encouraging buyers of brandname works. But the middle market looks vulnerable.

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On May 6, Christie's held its impressionist and modern art evening sale in New York. The 58 lots in the sale brought in $277.3m. The auctioneer estimated a sale total of $287m to $405m. This marked the first time in four years that Christie's missed a low estimate for an evening impressionist sale.

The top lot at the auction was Claude Monet's 1873 "Le Pont du chemin de fer à Argenteuil, which sold for $41.5m to an anonymous phone bidder an auction record for the artist.

Other artist records were set by Alberto Giacometti and Auguste Rodin. Giacometti's 1960 Grand Femme Debout II sold for $27.5m, and Rodin's Eve, grand modèle version sans rocher for $19m.

On May 7, Sotheby's held its impressionist and modern art evening sale in New York. The 52 lot sale, its smallest in four years, tallied $235.3m, within the estimated range of $203.9m to $280.1m. Artist records were achieved for Fernand Léger and Edvard Munch.

Sotheby's will announce its first quarter ended March 31, 2008 earnings on May 9.

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