Gauguin sale sets auction record

“Maternity,” a painting by Paul Gauguin depicting a Tahitian woman breastfeeding her baby with two other women nearby, was sold for $39.2 million to an unidentified bidder Thursday night at Sotheby’s New York.

The sale, an auction record for the artist’s work, was the highlight of a three-day series of Impressionist and Modern art sales that ended with mixed results.

Sotheby’s sale racked up $194.3 million and brought big prices for some paintings: $31.3 million for an Amedeo Modigliani portrait of his mistress, $21 million for the first work in Piet Mondrian’s “Boogie Woogie” series, $6.7 million for an Expressionistic painting of a Maxim’s restaurant employee by Chaim Soutine. Sculptures by Constantin Brancusi, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth also found eager buyers with deep pockets. But 13 of the 61 works offered failed to sell, including a Picasso painting of bathers, expected to bring $8 million to $12 million.

The preceding night, Christie’s sold $128 million worth of Impressionist and Modern art at its big-ticket auction. Claude Monet’s painting of London’s Parliament building in the fog commanded the top price of $20.1 million, followed by Joan Miro’s “Caress of the Stars” at $11.7 million, Vincent van Gogh’s “Bridge at Trinquetaille” at $11.2 million and Paul Cezanne’s “Portrait of a Woman” at $10 million. But Christie’s had disappointments as well. Eleven of the 58 consignments failed to sell.

Next week, the auction action will switch to contemporary art. About $200 million worth of art made in the last few decades will go on the block Tuesday through Thursday.

-- Suzanne Muchnic