IMPRESSIONISTS & MODERN ART AUCTION PREVIEW

On Tuesday Christie’s will inaugurate with an immense 92-lot auction of Impressionist & Modern Art, followed by Sotheby’s comparatively petit 35-lot sale on Wednesday evening. Next week Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips de Pury will hold Contemporary Art sales.The Christie’s sale carries an estimate of $186-265 million and is headlined by a Monet water lily painting from the collection of Ernst Beyeler, the esteemed Swiss dealer and co-founder of Art Basel who died last year. This week Christie’s hopes its Nymphéas will be appreciated to the tune of $27-39 million. The other top Picasso lot is also from the Beyeler collection and depicts Françoise Gilot, another one of the artist’s lovers. Françoise’s portrait is expected to bring in $11-16 million. The real jewel this week will be offered at Sotheby’s on Wednesday evening, where 35 lots are estimated to bring in excess of $124 million. The sale is headlined by an Egon Schiele bird’s-eye-view townscape, painted when the artist was 24