Monet Leads Christie's $472m 20th Century Evening Sale in New York

A work by Claude Monet, which had a guarantee, was the headline sale at Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale on November 17 in New York.

• The sale totaled $471.7m, meeting the pre-sale estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 60 works sold totaling $471.7m.
• Estimates totaled: $368.3m (low) and $523.8m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 97% of the original 62 lots announced.

The star lot was: Claude Monet, Nymphéas (1907), which sold for $45.48m, 13% above its $40m low estimate. The work was backed by a guarantee. It has been traded 8 times in the past.

The outperformer sold for 281% above its low estimate. Isamu Noguchi, Myo (1957), sold for $7.64m ($2m low estimate). It has been traded once in the past.

• 21 works, or 35%, sold above their high estimate.
• 29 works, or 48%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 10 works, or 17%, sold below their low estimate.

Auction records

Leonor Fini'sIn the Tower (Self-Portrait with Constantin Jeleński) set a new auction record for the artist, selling for $2.52m, an 8% rise.

Beauford Delaney's The Sage Black set a new auction record for the artist, selling for $1.52m, a 67% rise.

Guaranteed sales

38 works were backed by guarantees, including: David Hockney, Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy (1968). It sold for $44.34m, 11% below its $50m low estimate.. It has been traded 5 times in the past.

Works that did not sell

1 work was bought-in: Man Ray, Sade, Pas Terminé (1933), estimated at $1.8m (low) to $2.5m (high). It has been traded 4 times in the past.

Withdrawn before the sale

1 work was withdrawn before the sale: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Seated Woman in Profile Facing Left (1890) estimated at $6m (low) to $9m (high).

Terms and definitions

All results include the fees and premiums added to the price of a work of art when the auctioneer's hammer falls. Sale prices are compared to the auction house’s low estimate, which do not include premiums.

Guarantees: Sometimes an auction house guarantees to pay a seller for a work, regardless of whether the bidding reaches the reserve price, a figure that is typically confidential.

Bought-in: If there are no bids for a work, or if bidding falls short of the reserve price, the lot is unsold or “bought-in”.

Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.

Premiums: Typically a sliding-scale of charges paid in addition to the hammer price by the buyer, plus any other fees.