Kandinsky painting sets $23 mn record in New York

A painting by Wassily Kandinsky sold for $23 million in New York on Wednesday, setting an auction record for the Russian avant-garde artist, AFP reports. The oil painting "Studie fur improvisation 8" was a highlight of the big evening sale of impressionist and modern works at Christie's auction house in Manhattan. The price, within the $20-30 million pre-sale estimate, broke the artist's previous record of $20.9 million for "Fugue," set in 1990. One of Claude Monet's water lily paintings sold for $43.76 million, but a Picasso sculpture of a cockerel was among the prestigious works failing to find buyers. Monet's oil on canvas "Nympheas" was the biggest single seller, hitting the high end of the $30-50 million estimate. Alberto Giacometti's "La Jambe," a single skinny bronze leg, sold for $11.3 million, at the low end of the estimate. "Peinture (Femme, journal, chien)" by Spanish artist Joan Miro, sold for $13.7 million, compared to the $12-18 million estimate. Among the night's losers was the bronze sculpture "Coq" by Picasso, which had a pre-sale estimate of $10-15 million but did not sell. Also failing to find a buyer was "Deux danseuses aux corsages jaunes" by French Impressionist giant Edgar Degas and estimated at $7-10 million. Marc Chagall's "Nature morte," estimated at $6-8 million, also didn't sell. On Thursday, Sotheby's holds its New York impressionist and modern sale. Next week will see the contemporary sales.