Edgar Degas, “Petite danseuse de quatorze ans,” 1922, bronze with muslin skirt and satin hair ribbon, realized $24.9 million (auction record for any sculpture by the artist).
Gustav Klimt, “Bildnis Gertrud Loew (Gertha Felsoványi) / (Portrait of Gertrud Loew -Gertha Felsoványi),” 1902, oil on canvas sold for $39.1 million.
On June 24, Sotheby’s achieved its second-highest total for any sale ever conducted in London — $282 million — led by Gustav Klimt’s 1902 “Portrait of Gertrud Loew,” which sold after a 10-minute bidding battle for $39.1 million, the second highest price for a portrait by the artist at auction. A new record for any sculpture by Degas was set in the sale by “Petite danseuse de quatorze ans,” 1922, which realized $24.9 million. In addition to the Klimt, the auction also presented two additional restituted works — “Suprematism, 18th Construction,” 1915, an extremely rare work by Kazmir Malevich, which made $33.8 million (second highest price for the artist at auction), and Max Lieberman’s “Zwei Reiter am Strand nach links (Two Riders on a Beach),” the first work to be sold from Cornelius Gurlitt’s trove of art, bringing $2.95 million.
A complete review of the sale will follow.
