Guarantees and big names support the British market at Sotheby's

The first 16 lots in the catalogue all came from the collection of the American financier formerly living in London Ralph I Goldenberg, who died at the age of 87 in 2022, a true collector of his time, as evidenced by the diversity of works collected over 60 years.

The total revenue from the 14 lots sold was close to £13 million, and reported six of the 12 lots in the catalogue to have exceeded the high estimates, before commissions were added.

Cy Twombly. «By the Ionian Sea» 1988, n. 6 di 6 edizioni

These included three works by Cy Twombly, differing in period and medium, which brought in £5.2m, including the sculpture 'By the Ionian Sea' contended for up to £2.1m from an estimate of £800,000-1.2m.

The three proposed works byRobert Ryman, on the other hand, disappointed: 'Unfinished Painting' went unsold from an estimate of £1.5-2 million, while a small 1963 work with elements of colour probably ended up at the low estimate of £800,000, and the third untitled white did not reach the low estimate even with commissions.

Jean-Michel Basquiat. «Portrait of the Artist as a Young Derelict», 1982

The overall result of the collection fell short of the price paid for one of the two lots that crossed the £10m threshold: the guarantee saved the well-known work by Basquiat 'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Derelict' which did not suffice with its 'magic' date of 1982 and self-deprecating reference, so that it ended the run at the low estimate of £15m, or £16m with the reduced commission paid by the guarantor.

Pablo Picasso. «Guitare sur un tapis rouge», 1922

It changed hands after a single bid at £9.3 million, below the estimate of £10-15 million, for a lively late Cubist large-scale work by Picasso from 1922, 'Guitare sur un tapis rouge', which has quintupled in price in sterling since it was last sold at auction 20 years ago from the £1.8 million it fetched in 2004.

Another work by the Catalan master, a large but sombre-toned 1960 nude from an Italian collection for 50 years, was fought down to its high estimate at £5.8 million with commissions, while a dull-toned 1953 portrait of a woman depicting Francoise Gilot remained unsold from its estimate of £2.8-3.5 million.

Françoise Gilot, «Autoportrait en blanc (Étude de formes)», 1944

A rather disturbing frontal self-portrait painted by Gilot herself in 1944, on the other hand, sparked one of the few real bidding contests, albeit at £10,000 each, doubling the high estimate of £100-150,000 to end up at £360,000 with commissions: power of the name rather than the painting as such.

A bidding war also ensued for another artist, the contemporary Lucy Bull with a large, colourful canvas '10:00' from 2021 contended for up to £900,000.

Instead, Paula Rego's canvas 'Meadow' finished below estimate, although it fetched the second highest price for the artist at £2.1m with commissions, while Emily Kam Kngwarray's work, estimated at £400-600,000, was withdrawn before the auction along with de Lempicka's potentially millionaire nude.

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, «Bouquet de lilas»1878

Speculation on fresh paintings and works by young artists finally seems to have come to an end. In terms of contribution to the result, works from the turn of the 19th and early 20th century prevailed decisively, thanks in part to the astonishing result of the four works by Renoir, all of which sold for a total of £9.6m, including the most hotly contested lot of the evening, a decorative 'Bouquet se lilas' from 1878 which tripled its guaranteed estimate of £2-3m to £6.9m with commissions.

Property from the Collection of J.E. Safra. August Strindberg. «Solitary Fly Cap» 1892-93.

These were joined by works by Schiele, Caillebotte, Pissarro, Sisley, Degas, Severini, Hammershoi and August Strindberg with a late 19th century canvas from the Safra collection fetching £2.9m, making a total of £8m,4 million, with only two lots going to third-party guarantors, while works by living artists totalled £6.4 million, despite three third-party guarantees and the inclusion of 90-year-old Kusama and Richter.

Even without calculating the contribution of Picasso and Giacometti, whose three sculptures attracted strong bids totalling £5 million, modern art achieved three times the turnover of contemporary art.

Lucio Fontana. «Concetto spaziale, attese», 1966

The beyond-expectation outcome for a Spatial Concept' with holes by Fontana from the Goldenberg collection anticipated the million-dollar result for a red 'Waiting' canvas with seven cuts (100x81cm) from 1966, which nimbly passed the third-party guarantee to stop at £4.1m with commission. The guarantee saved an Achrome by Manzoni estimated at £2.8-3.5 million which changed hands at £3.2 million with commission. A Boetti tapestry from the 'Tutto' series reached the low estimate of £600,000.

Although it fetched £650,000 above its high estimate, Gino Severini's 1908 pre-Futurist landscape, a pleasingly large canvas in green tones, caused a significant loss for the buyer who had paid a whopping £1 million for it back in 2007 at Christie's in London. It now remains to wait for the results of the forthcoming Christie's and Phillips auctions to see how the English capital positions itself on the international scene.