$70m Giacometti bombs at patchy Sotheby’s Modern art auction

Sotheby's Modern evening sale in New York on May 13 brought in $152 million ($186.4 million with fees), falling short of its presale estimate of $170 million to $248 million. Four lots were withdrawn before bidding began, including works by Winslow Homer, Wassily Kandinsky, Candido Portinari, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The sale's star lot, Alberto Giacometti's bronze bust 'Grande tête mince' (1954/55), estimated at over $70 million, failed to sell when bidding stalled around $64 million. Other notable results included strong sales for Jean Arp, František Kupka, and Robert Delaunay, but several high-profile works by Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Edgar Degas, Pierre Soulages, and David Smith also failed to find buyers.