Two Garbo Paintings Sold for $16.4 Million : Art: Sotheby’s breaks a downward trend in sales during an auction of a Monet and a Renoir owned by the actress.

The art market may be dying, but not for Greta Garbo.

Her soothing Monet picture of a lily pond fetched $9.4 million and her Renoir portrait of the artist’s son brought $7 million at Sotheby’s Impressionist sale Tuesday night.

It helped an agonized art market rebound slightly from the disastrous downward trend of the last two weeks.

Monet’s “Nympheas,” which carried a $7 million to $9 million estimate, went to a Japanese dealer as the most expensive lot of an otherwise sedate sale.

Renoir’s “Child Dressed in Blue Robe” sold for a surprising $7 million, well above the $4 million to $6 million pre-sale estimate.

Both prices included the standard 10% commission for Sotheby’s.

The strong prices helped bolster the sagging spirits of the auction house that failed to sell only 17 of 69 for a 25% unsold rate.

The figure was a marked improvement over Monday night’s 35% and last week’s 50% unsold rate for the contemporary art pieces.

“The temperature of the bidding was much healthier this evening,” Sotheby President John Marion said.

Marion said Monday night that the market looked bleak. But the auctioneer amended his assessment after Tuesday’s sale.

“It’s a very confusing picture we look at in the market, but certainly the picture we look at tonight is a pleasing one.”

Another portrait from the Garbo collection, “Leontine et Coco,” did not fare as well, fetching $5.8 million, somewhat short of its $7-million to $9-million estimate.

Ted Kurz, the lawyer for the Garbo estate, said the family was pleased with the strong showing. It boded well for the Garbo mega-sale to come Thursday when the screen legend’s furniture and personal belongings go on the block.

Tuesday’s sale included 19 pieces from the Jerome Ohrbach Collection and 50 more from a variety of owners. Sotheby’s cleared $84.4 million.