Munch’s Girls on a Bridge’s fetches $54.5m at auction in New York
New York — Edvard Munch’s Girls on the Bridge fetched $54.5m at Sotheby’s on Monday, as the week of bellwether auctions in New York began. The 1902 canvas was expected to sell at more than $50m, the highest estimate of the week of auctions targeting more than $1bn at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips. It was the second-highest auction price paid for a work by the Norwegian painter, Sotheby’s said. Sotheby’s evening sale of Impressionist and modern art tallied $157.7m, within the estimated presale range but a 49% decline from the similar auction a year ago. "A solid sale in a somewhat subdued sale room," said Thomas C Danziger, a partner at law firm Danziger, Danziger & Muro, who attended the sale. "Given the excitement — and anxiety — of the past week, it was reassuring to see that the art market stayed afloat, even if the mood wasn’t very buoyant." Top lot The Munch was the top lot of the evening and one of three guaranteed pieces. Sotheby’s found third-party backers to place irre...
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