The piece “Self Portrait of Manet, A Bust (Manet and a Palette),” broke the artist’s auction record and kicked off a grand start for Impressionist collectors in London. The self-portrait is just one of two in existence, and has been hailed by Charles Moffett, co-curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as, “one of the greatest self-portraits in the entire canon of art history.” Other impressionists works sold higher than expected, which signals a resounding boom for the art market, which more than tripled its June sale at 112.4 m pounds, from last years little more than 33m pounds.
Andre Derain’s Fauvist landscape “Trees in Coillure” sold for 14.5m pounds, Matisse’s “Two Women Playing Odalisques” sold for 10.5m pounds, just over its 10m estimate. Matisse depicts a nude and a harem lady in a scene that he once said satisfies his passion for “lavish figures and color.” A couple of late (1937) Picasso drawings of his mistress, Dora Maar, sold on average for over a million each.
On the other hand Monet’s “Flowers at Vetheuil” was supposed to fetch 4m pounds but didn’t find an audience at all. 15 other works by Cezanne, Miro and prominent modern artists didn’t sell either.
