Vlaminck, Monet lead Christie's sale

4 May 2011

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"Paysage de banlieue" by Maurice de Vlaminck brought $22.5 million at Christie's on May 4.

(Christie's International)

Christie’s Impressionist and modern art sale on Wed. night was boosted by a boldly-colored fauve landscape. Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958)'s Paysage de banlieue soared to $22.5 million, almost double the artist's previous auction record of $10.8 million.

Hedge fund manager Steve Cohen was the owner of the 1905 painting which had a pre-sale estimate of $18 million to $25 million.

Also fetching about $22.5 million was Claude Monet’s 1891 painting of poplars, “Les Peupliers”, which rang in on the low end of its $20 million to $30 million presale estimate.

Picasso's Les femmes d'Alger, version L, painted in Paris in 1955, fell within estimate at $21.3 million.

Read more at Bloomberg

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