On Thursday night, Sotheby’s held a three-part sale of Impressionist, Modern, and Surrealist art at the Breuer Building in New York, generating $304.6 million against a cumulative estimate of $218.8 million to $301.2 million. The smallest sale, 13 lots from the collection of Cindy and Jay Pritzker, achieved a “white glove” result with $109.5 million, led by Vincent van Gogh’s *Romans Parisiens (Les Livres jaunes)* (1887) which sold for $62.7 million. The Surrealist offering, “Exquisite Corpus,” from the collection of Nesuhi and Selma Ertegun, featured Frida Kahlo’s *El sueño (La cama)* (1940) which set a record for the artist at $54.7 million, becoming the most expensive work by a woman artist at auction (nominal price).
This sale matters because it underscores the enduring strength of the high-end art market, with major collections and iconic works commanding premium prices despite broader economic uncertainty. The record for Kahlo highlights the growing market recognition for female artists, while the Pritzker collection’s success demonstrates the continued demand for blue-chip Impressionist and Modern works. The evening also showcased Sotheby’s ability to orchestrate complex multi-part sales, with auctioneers Oliver Barker and Helena Newman navigating competitive bidding that included prominent figures like the Nahmad family and advisor Patti Wong.