Christie’s Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, achieved $147 million for paintings and sculpture with top lots from Juan Gris, Pablo Picasso, and Wassily Kandinsky commanding the highest prices.
Juan Gris’s Livre, pipe et verre of 1915 drew the highest price of the evening, selling at $20.8 million, and established a new auction record for the artist. A striking still life painted in his own distinctive brand of Cubism, Gris used stark contrast and white highlighting to create an effect similar to a photographic negative.