anam_moon | Weakening art sales rattle Sotheby's, Christie's

Wheat Fields

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) - The slipping US economy and plunging bourses appeared to infect the market for multi-million dollar paintings, as major works including a Van Gogh went unsold at auctions here this week.

The two major art auction houses, Sotheby's and Christie's, both got a shock in New York as they sought to mark new price records for artists such as Picasso, Matisse, Gaugin, and Van Gogh.

The week got off to a promising start Tuesday evening, when Christie's hit the hammer at 33.6 million dollars for a 1937 Matisse, "L'Odalisque, harmonie bleu," far above the 20 million dollar upper estimate.

But smiles shriveled when, by Wednesday night, wealthy buyers' pocketbooks were cinched up.

At Sotheby's, Paul Gauguin's "Te Poipoi" (The Morning), sold for 39.2 million dollars, under the pre-sale estimate of 40 to 60 million dollars.

It had at least been expected to beat the record of 40.3 million dollars for a work by the artist set last year with the 1891 painting "Man with an Axe."

And then Vincent Van Gogh's "The Fields (Wheat Fields)," painted just two weeks before the artist's suicide and possibly his last finished work, unexpectedly failed to find a buyer.

Sotheby's put a high estimate of 35 million dollars on the work but failed to attract a single bid over 25 million dollars.

And while a record was set for a sculpture by Pablo Picasso and top prices were paid for works by Egon Schiele, a quarter of the works remained unsold and the total bids fell well short of pre-sale estimates.

"I think some of our estimates were ambitious and informed by strong sales earlier in the year, but we expected the Van Gogh to sell," Sotheby's chief executive Bill Ruprecht said Friday in a conference call with analysts.

"Three people traveled to New York to buy that picture, but then they didn't and that rattled the market. I can't say why they didn't go for it."

Sotheby's was particularly rattled by the lackluster evening: its share price plunged the next day by 38 percent.

The company on friday reported that, mainly due to a 14.6 million dollar loss on guarantees for this week's auction, it recorded a third quarter loss of 20.9 million dollars. (The guarantees had gone on its books before the quarter's close on September 30.)

Ruprecht tried to put a good face on the showing, saying that the art market remains strong despite the poor sales.

"Auctions, by their nature, are unpredictable, with upsides and downsides," Ruprecht said

"I don't think the financial markets helped us one bit, but we can't attribute all to the day," the Sotheby's chief executive said, referring to the sharp downturn in US stock markets.

Sotheby's pointed out that the loss was still under the 30.7 million dollar loss for the preceding period. It also registered operating revenues for the period of 85.1 million dollars, up 48 percent due to higher commissions in auctions and private sales.

In the quarterly report, Ruprecht was nevertheless confident that the market for top works of art was not in trouble.

"The art market has shown considerable strength since the beginning of our fall season and we remain positive for the remainder of the year," he said.