November 4th 2009 - Edgar Degas’s Danseuses, a richly-textured pastel drawing from 1896, was the top lot of the evening, selling for $10,722,500. This tightly-cropped view of two dancers at rest after a performance is remarkable both for the expressive vigor in the artist’s lines and the sheer brilliance of his denselylayered colors.

Rare and important paintings and sculptures performed well at the sale, led by a trio of works from the great French masters. In addition to Degas’ Danseuses, top prices were realized for Auguste Rodin's Le Baiser (The Kiss), which sold for $6,354,500, and for Claude Monet’s Vétheuil, effet de soleil, a sun-drenched view of the picturesque village painted in 1901, which sold for $5,458,500. Seven of the 15 views in the Vétheuil series are now housed in major museum collections around the world, including the Musée D'Orsay and the Pushkin Museum.

A recently restituted painting by Pissarro, Le Quai Malaquais et l’Institut, 1903 realized $2,154,500. The painting had been confiscated over 70 years ago from the family of Samuel Fischer, founder of the legendary German publishing house S. Fischer Verlag. It was offered for sale by Gisela Bermann Fischer, daughter of Gottfried Bermann Fischer and granddaughter of Samuel Fischer, and Itai Shoffman, great grandson of Samuel Fischer. An earlier work by Pissarro, Le Cours-la-Reine à Rouen, temps gris, a contemplative landscape from circa 1898, exceeded its high estimate and sold for $2,042,500.

Modern works also performed well, led by superb examples sourced from private and estate collections. Following the record-breaking results at Christie’s for works by Tamara de Lempicka earlier this year, two portraits by the artist exceeded their high estimates. Lempicka’s Portrait du Marquis Sommi, 1925 achieved $4,338,500 and Portrait de la Duchesse de Valmy, 1924, realized $1,370,500.

An abstract painting by Wassily Kandinsky entitled Winkelschwung (“Angular Swing”) from the Estate of Jack J. Dreyfus, Jr. exceeded its high estimate, achieving $2,658,500. A vibrant work that bears the influence of the artist's teaching residency at the legendary Bauhaus, the painting is populated with geometric shapes, lines, and points arrayed along an obtuse angle that may be read as a landscape of buildings and tree forms.

A work by Salvador Dali, Nu dans la plaine de Rosas, sold for $4,002,500, the second highest price at auction for the artist.