The Return of Beautiful Pictures: Liz Sterling & Josh Baer on the Paris Sales

The morning after the Christie’s Durand-Ruel and Sotheby’s Schulmberger sales in Paris, Josh Baer sits down with art advisor Liz Sterling, who spent 15 years at Christie’s and Sotheby’s before going independent.

Why are collectors reaching for fresh, easy-to-live-with Impressionist pictures, and have some of them been burned by the primary contemporary market? What does a 45-minute, 250-bid fight over a Monet tell you about where the auctioneer thought the price would land?

At 00:03:25 the work Josh refers to is Claude Monet's 'Iris' (1924-25) which hammered for €43m (€50m with fees) at Sotheby's on an estimate of €20—30m, and at 00:15:01 he refers to Claude Lalanne's 'Lit 'Singerie', pièce unique' (1997) at Christie's, which ended up passing on an estimate of €1.4—1.8m.

All this and more in this week's episode of The Baer Faxt Podcast: art market intelligence from inside the room.

Want to know who bought what, and who tried to? Subscribers to The Baer Faxt Newsletter receive our post-sale reports during marquee sales in New York, London and Paris including buyers and bidders, straight from the saleroom. Head to www.thebaerfaxt.com to subscribe.