After a competition among 15 telephone bidders, the Hammmer fell to 3.4 million euros and brought the auction house Van Ham the highest hammer price in its history in its 500th auction: The successful bidder comes from Switzerland and pays 2.5 million euros in advance for Pablo Picasso's painting "Buste de femme" from 1971, estimated at up to 4.35 million euros, with a buyer's premium. No other work of art has changed hands at an auction in Germany this year at a higher price. The total result of the anniversary auction at Van Ham amounted to 22 million euros, which is also a record for the house, which it was able to celebrate as part of its "Modern Week".
Max Pechstein's painting "Entertainment" went into a private collection in North Rhine-Westphalia. Estimated at 600,000 to 800,000 euros, it reached 737,000 euros with buyer's premium. A bronze by Louise Bourgeois rose from an estimated 100,000 euros to 277,000 euros with buyer's premium. The current retrospective at Cologne's Museum Ludwig may have spurred the auction success of Ursula's 1997 work "Eine feine Gesellschaft" (A Fine Society), which set a record for the artist with a gross result of 66,000 euros. Other records were set for works by Franz Gertsch and Hans Hartung, among others.