That the 19th-century highlight from Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern auctions last night was to be, according to the auction house’s Web site, a floral still life by Henri Fantin-Latour indicated the relative weakness of the lots from that century. A fine minor artist, Fantin-Latour is certainly no Cezanne or Manet, and, to my mind, his flower pictures aren’t nearly as compelling as his portraits.

By contrast, most of the 20th-century standouts should have proved highly desirable, with pride of place among the standouts given to Max Beckmann’s “Self-Portrait With Crystal Ball” (1936). This work depicts the sternly gazing, nearly bald artist in a green shirt as he casually holds a fairly large crystal ball in one hand. Whether or not it is worth the $16.8 million that was paid for it entirely depends, it seems to me, on the size of one’s offshore accounts. Beckmann self-portraits are among his best subjects, and they do not come up for sale often.

If that price seems steep, you could have acquired a larger, though later, Beckmann oil, “Perseus’ (Hercules’) Last Duty” (1949), for about half as much. I’d venture that the low presale estimate and the lack of interest on the bidding floor had less to do with quality than with the difficulty of the subject matter. It’s a scene of beheadings and mutilations made all the bloodier by its violent contrast of dark hues with hot reds and oranges – a wonderful painting, though one that will have a narrower and more sophisticated audience than the relatively benign self-portrait.

The recent vogue for Beckmann’s work, and for that of other German artists, suggests both that a re-evaluation of Modernism is under way and that it is difficult these days to find high-quality pictures by Matisse and Picasso. I was less than overwhelmed, for instance, by Picasso’s “Les Femmes d’Alger (J),” a large oil from 1955 – not the artist’s most sought-after period. And, while Henri Matisse’s “Le Reflet” (1935), a double portrait of Lydia Delec torskaya, is, to quote the catalog, “stunning,” it also lacks the vivid colors and lush patterning of his arguably more essential work.

Were I looking for a Matisse, I might have opted for a drawing, such as the “Trois odalisques” (1928), a large sheet – 16 by 20.5 inches – with a presale estimate of $400,000-$600,000. Here, two clothed women recline on either side of a seated nude woman in a patterned interior. To me, it looks quickly, yet forcefully, executed, and Matisse’s line drawings are among the greatest ever made.

Nevertheless, a buyer with the means could have acquired an outstanding Modernist painting, Wassily Kandinsky’s “Two Riders and Reclining Figure,” (1909-10) an oil on millboard. An ebullient and brightly colored proto-abstract work, it is certainly one of the most historically important paintings in the auction.

Of the sculptures included – there were quite a few Rodin bronzes – I’d single out Alberto Giacometti’s “Diego au Chandail,” a small bust of the artist’s brother with a tiny head and a fan-shaped body. Conceived in 1954, it was, crucially, cast during Giacometti’s lifetime.

I must note, however, that I was enthralled by two Modernist paintings that likely were overlooked by the majority of bidders, if only because they will be included in the Latin American auction, which takes place on May 24 and 25. They are small paintings by Joachim Torres-Garcia, a seminal, though largely overlooked, Uruguayan artist. Of the two, “Estructura” (1935), a monochrome oil on canvas, is the more typical example, and thus estimated to bring between $125,000 and $175,000. Replete with Torres-Garcia’s mystical symbols, numbers, and letters laid out on an irregular grid based on the Golden Section, it is a classic of Modernist art, despite being relegated to the Latin American auction. And it proves you don’t need to spend millions to get outstanding works – you just need to let your eyes guide your wallet.