AAJ ART :Picasso and Monet too expensive? shared news from artprice
Picasso and Monet too expensive? [May 11] Although Picasso is still the world’s best generator of million-dollar auction results, collectors are apparently not that hungry for his works as to push the bidding to any price. Indeed, while the offer of top-quality Picasso works continues to flow, buyers remain discerning. This was clearly visible at Sotheby's 3 May sale in New York: of the 32 lots estimated at $1m or more, only 17 actually got beyond that threshold and only 4 of the 10 works by Pablo PICASSO presented that evening went beyond their low estimates. The star work of the sale, Picasso’s Femmes lisant (deux personnages) , only just reached $19m against a low estimate of $25m. Before the sale, encouraged by the London result in February of £22.5m for La lecture ($36.2m, double its estimate), optimists were predicting a better result for Femme lisant than the $35m high estimate! And the “Picasso effect” also underperformed for three other major works in t
