A Solid Night At Christie's

Buyers last night at the Christie's Impressionist and Modern Evening sale showed that they were willing to pay for the best lots, but only if forced to. Clocking in at $277 million (including the buyer's premium) and with more than 80% of the 58 lots sold, the sale lacked the breakneck excitement of recent sales. The big disappointments of the evening were Kees van Dongen's "Anita en almee" — which didn't manage to break the artist's record — and a late Picasso "Buste d'Homme" that just didn't excite. Both failed to sell along with works by Monet, Leger, Renoir, Matisse, Pissarro, and Gaugin.

Paul Gauguin's "Te Fare Hymenee (La Maison des Chants)," estimated at between $10 million and $15 million, sold for $7.5 million at the hammer and $8.4, with the buyer's premium. The consignor was more generous than others who watched their works fail to sell sometimes a mere $100,000 shy of the low estimate.

It was far from a gloomy night at Christie's, though. Many lots had protracted and intense bidding in which buyers chopped bids to the lowest possible increments. On Alberto Giacometti's "Grande Femme debout II," bidders clawed their way up to $24.5 million, taking more than two dozen bids to get there. On two separate occasions, Christie's auctioneer, Christopher Burge, had to take bids just as the hammer clapped briskly against the podium.

The evening opened with Giacometti's "Apollon," estimated at between $800,000 and $1.2 million, but the determined interest drove the hammer price to $3.2 million. Egon Shiele's "Liegender Akt . . .," estimated at between $600,000 and $900,000, went to $1.55 million in the room. Auguste Rodin's "Eve," estimated at $9 million to $12 million, went for a $16.9 million hammer price. And Joan Miro's "Personnage" reached $5.1 million, more than 25% above the high estimate.

The star lots of the evening came through well but probably not much beyond the guarantees Christie's offered the consignors. Matisse's "Portrait au manteau bleu" reached $20 million in the room, and Monet's picture of a train crossing a railroad bridge set a record for the artist at $41.4 million.