Sold by Value: 94%
Sold by Lot: 84%
Global participation with bidders from 17 countries across 3 continents

Tamara de Lempicka leads the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, as Portrait de Marjorie Ferry sells for £16,280,000, setting a new World Auction Record for the Artist, and becomes the first female artist to lead an Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale

George Grosz’s politically charged Gefährliche Straße achieves a record of £9,740,250

René Magritte’s A la rencontre du plaisir realises £18,933,750, leads The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale and achieves the second highest price for the artist

Six further works by Magritte were all sold
Le baiser, £2,891,250
Perspective: le balcon de Manet... £3,724,750
Les fleurs e l'abîme, £1,391,250
Le somnambule, £1,691,250
Sans titre (La partition), £395,250
Le roman populaire £1,187,250

Additional highlights:
Trois hommes qui marchent (Grand plateau), a lifetime cast, by Alberto Giacometti achieves £11,272,500

Pablo Picasso Still Lifes from the 1940s, 50s and 60s, which underpin a lifelong dedication to the genre:
La cafetière, 1943, £1,811,250
Intérieur au pot de fleurs, 1953, £7,243,250
and Nature morte au chien, 1962, £4,385,576

Louis Anquetin’s Femme à sa toilette performed well, achieving £1,331,250 against a pre-sale estimate of $400,000

Further records for:
James Ensor’s Scénes de la Vie du Christ, £815,250 (Record for the Medium)

Keith Gill, Head of Evening Sale, Impressionist and Modern Art, Christie’s: “The Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale launched ‘20^th Century at Christie’s’ with strong demand from our global client base achieving a total of £62,890,326 / $81,757,424 / €74,021,914. Sell through rates of 92% by value and 80% by lot reflect the positive response to the sale. Tamara de Lempicka’s Portrait de Marjorie Ferry is the first female artist to lead the Impressionist Sale by achieving a record price of £16,280,000. George Grosz’s political masterpiece Gefährliche Straße also achieved a record price of £9,740,250 – a resounding response to the artist’s critique of Berlin society at the end of World War One. Almost all other remaining works from this series are in museum collections.”

Olivier Camu, Deputy Chairman, Impressionist and Modern Art, Christie’s: “The annual The Art of the Surreal Evening Sale realised a total of £43,935,250 / $56,260,913/ €51,711,789, the second highest total for a Surreal sale at Christie’s, with sell-through rates of 99% by value 88% by lot, reinforcing the evolution of the market for surreal art and artists. This evening we achieved strong results for the group of seven paintings by René Magritte, showing the continued fascination with the artist. A la rencontre du Plaisir, which was acquired from the artist and in the same collection since painted, for over 50 years, sold for £18,933,750. Perspective: Le balcon de Manet..., Magritte’s humorous riff on Édouard Manet’s Le balcon of 1869, sold for £3,724,750 and Le somnambule flew past its estimate when it realised £1,691,250. Having remained in the same collection for over 90 years, James Ensor’s rare suite of drawings achieved £815,250, a new auction record for the artist in the medium.”

For further commentary on the sale please view our online report HERE.

Sales continue on 6 February 2020, with the Impressionist and Modern Works on Paper and the Impressionist and Modern Art Day Sale.