(Bloomberg) -- Sotheby's sale of Impressionist and modern art Tuesday in London reaped a tepid 87.5 million pounds ($115.7 million), down 32 percent from a year ago and below its low presale estimate.
Of the 36 offered lots, 10 failed to sell, including some guaranteed by Sotheby's. Final prices include a buyer's commission charged by the auction house, which was increased early this month.
The top lot, Pablo Picasso's painting of his lover Marie-Therese Walter, fetched 27.3 million pounds, missing the estimate of 33 million pounds. Sotheby's guaranteed the painting and found a client to place a pre-arranged bid, ensuring the work would sell. That client turned out to be the lone bidder for the 1932 painting, “Buste de Femme de Profil (Femme Ecrivant)."
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Shares of Sotheby's were unchanged, closing at $59.07, just off the record high set earlier this month.
To contact the reporter on this story: Katya Kazakina in New York at kkazakina@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Peter Eichenbaum, Steven Crabill
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