Christie's Post-Sale: Solid and More Sober

If last night's sale of impressionist and modern art at Christie's wasn't as exuberant as the same auction one year ago, it didn't fall flat, either.

The auction house raked in a total of $395 million against a pre-sale estimate of $350 million - $480 million, second only to the November 2006 sale that featured a trove of recently restituted art, including Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II.

The greatest surprise was, perhaps, that Americans accounted for nearly 50 percent of successful bidders, assuaging fears that the sub-prime mortgage crisis would cause them to retreat and defying expectations that the weak dollar would entice more European buyers.

Matisse's L'Odalisque, harmonie bleue stole the show, sparking an intense and protracted bidding war between Franck Giraud (once a director of impressionist and modern art at Christie's, now a private dealer) and a bidder on the phone with Guy Bennett, the current head of the impressionist and modern art department.

"At some point, I'm going to have to sell it," joked auctioneer Christopher Burge.

Giraud bowed out at $30 million, and the painting went to paddle #1743 bidding through Bennett. With buyer's premium, Matisse's sumptuously colored and decorated canvas brought $33.6 million, more than $10 million above its high estimate. It was the most expensive lot in the sale by purchase price with premium and an auction record for the artist.

Picasso's Femme accroupie au costume turc (Jacqueline), also featuring an odalisque, brought the second highest price of the evening — tied with Modigliani's Portrait du sculpteur Oscar Miestchaninoff — but got to the $27.5 million hammer price without the ado of the Matisse. With premium, Picasso's painting fetched $30.8 million.

Other works that made the list of top ten lots sold by price and also achieved auction records were Pissarro's Les Quatre Saisons, which brought $14.6 million (with premium) against a $12 million - $18 million estimate, and Paul Signac's Cassis. Cap Canaille, fetching just over $14 million against an $8 million - $12 million estimate.

Disappointments included the Cézanne put on the block by Japanese company Seibu and hyped in a press release before the sale: Le Jas de Bouffan, expected to fetch $12 million - $16 million, failed to find a buyer.

Henri Matisse, L'Odalisque, harmonie bleue, Photo Credit: Christie's

Pablo Picasso, Femme accroupie au costume turc (Jacqueline), Photo Credit: Christie's

Amedeo Modigliani, Portrait du sculpteur Oscar Miestchaninoff, Photo Credit: Christie's

Paul Cézanne, Le Jas de Bouffan, Photo Credit: Christie's