Monet Sells For $22.5M

The fall art season began with buyers shelling out $22.5 million for Claude Monet's "Nympheas" and setting a record auction price -- $4.8 million -- for a sculpture by Auguste Rodin.

The Monet was part of the painter's original 1906 Waterlilies" series of 48 works, created at the lily pond behind the artist's house in Giverny.

Bidding was fierce for the Monet at Christie's auction on Monday night. Five participants, some present and some via telephone, battled for the painting before Simon de Pury, former chairman of Sotheby's in Europe, made the winning bid. The painting was put up for sale by an anonymous collector.

It was a record price for the series and sold far above Christie's estimated pre-sale price of $15 million, said spokeswoman Catherine Fenston.

Rodin's "Eve" sculpture, part of the artist's Adam and Eve group and initially conceived to accompany his "Gates of Hell" sculpture, had a pre-sale estimate of $4 million. It was sold to an anonymous European dealer. The sculpture, a first bronze cast, was bought directly from Rodin by French industrialist Auguste Pellerin in 1898.

Edouard Manet's "Polichinelle," an 1873 full-length portrait of Punch of Punch and Judy fame was also part of the Pellerin collection. It sold for $2.9 million, in line with pre-estimates of $2.5 million to $3.5 million.

Fifty-two works of Impressionist and post-Impressionist art were offered and 48 sold, bringing in a total of $88.2 million. Christopher Burge, chairman of Christie's in America, said the enthusiasm of the bidders showed that Impressionist and post-Impressionist works still command high prices. Christie's had estimated the works would sell for a total of $79.8 million.

Other works that sold included 22 paintings from the collection of Akram Ojjeh, a Syrian-born financier who died in 1991; they brought a total of nearly $38.75 million. The collection was offered by his widow, Nahed Tala Ojjeh.

Among the works was Vincent van Gogh's 1888 "Bridge at Trinquetaille, which sold for $15.4 million, far below its estimated sale of $20 million. The van Gogh, which Ojjeh bought nine years ago at auction for $1.5 million, was sold to an anonymous telephone bidder.

The Ojjeh collection also included Camille Pissarro's 1893 "Place Saint-Lazare, which brought $3.5 million and was estimated at a high of $1.8 million and Pierre-Auguste Renoir's still life "Geraniums in a Copper Bowl," whch went for $4.8 million, above its pre-sale price of $3 million.

One important work that failed to sell was Paul Cezanne's 1870 "The Orgy," which was estimated at between $7 million and $10 million but could only muster a high bid of $5.2 million and was withdrawn.

There are many reasons why a painting might not fetch its estimated price, including if it's been on the market too recently and isn't considered "fresh," or if the estimate was too high, giving the owners unrealistic expectations.

Final prices include the auction house's commission of 15 percent of the first $50,000 and 10 percent of the rest. Pre-sale estimates do not include commissions.