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Kandinsky painting sets $23 mn record in New York

A painting by Wassily Kandinsky sold for $23 million in New York on Wednesday, setting an auction record for the Russian avant-garde artist.

The oil painting ‘Studie fur improvisation 8’ was a highlight of the big evening sale of impressionist and modern works at Christie’s auction house in Manhattan.

The price, within the $20-30 million pre-sale estimate, broke the artist’s previous record of $20.9 million for ‘Fugue,’ set in 1990.

One of Claude Monet’s water lily paintings sold for $43.76 million, but a Picasso sculpture of a cockerel was among the prestigious works failing to find buyers.

Monet’s oil on canvas ‘Nympheas’ was the biggest single seller, hitting the high end of the $30-50 million estimate.

Alberto Giacometti’s ‘La Jambe,’ a single skinny bronze leg, sold for $11.3 million, at the low end of the estimate.

‘Peinture (Femme, journal, chien)’ by Spanish artist Joan Miro, sold for $13.7 million, compared to the $12-18 million estimate.

Among the night’s losers was the bronze sculpture ‘Coq’ by Picasso, which had a pre-sale estimate of $10-15 million but did not sell. Also failing to find a buyer was ‘Deux danseuses aux corsages jaunes’ by French Impressionist giant Edgar Degas and estimated at $7-10 million.

Marc Chagall’s ‘Nature morte,’ estimated at $6-8 million, also didn’t sell.

On Thursday, Sotheby’s holds its New York impressionist and modern sale. Next week will see the contemporary sales.