Weak Dollar, Strong Sale

"At some point, I'm going to have to sell it," the lead auctioneer at Christie's, Christopher Burge, said last night. He was referring to the record-breaking Matisse, "L'Odalisque, harmonie bleue," which crept up to a $30 million hammer price. The bidding, like all of the night's bidding, in this huge sale of 91 lots was measured and drawn out. Mr. Burge was going to leave no potential bid orphaned. And he brought in $394 million total for the sale of Impressionist and Modern art — against a presale estimate at between $349 million and $487 million.

The best works of the evening had no trouble attracting strong bids. Matisse, Picasso, Signac, and Giacometti sold well. World records were set for works by Pisarro, Jean Metzinger, and Otto Dix. Two paintings by Modigliani soared above their pre-sale estimates, this despite last season's weak showing for the artist. Picasso's "Tete de Femme (Dora Maar)" sold for more than double the presale estimate, showing that buyers were attuned to high-quality works with conservative estimates.

Christie's fared less well with some high-profile German works, especially Auguste Macke's "Paar im Wald," which failed to sell, though Alexej von Jawlensky's "Madchen mit Zopf" sold just above the high estimate. Other disappointments were Cezanne's "Portrait de Vaillier," which sold for a little more than the low estimate of $15 million. But since the seller purchased the work fewer than 10 years ago for no more than $2 million, the gain had to be pleasing.

In all, worries about the credit markets and a fear that the weak dollar would attract primarily foreign buyers were proved wrong. Half of the works were purchased by Americans — and many strong prices were achieved for blue-chip works.