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"Impressionist &amp;amp; ModernThe summer season begins on June 18 at Christie\u2019s, whose sale is headlined by a strong group of fresh-to-market estate material from the art-dealing Tiroche family. This includes the early Paul C\u00E9zanne&amp;nbsp;Don Quichotte, vu de dos, circa 1875, a petite yet dynamic oil on canvas (est. \u00A3300\u2013400,000; $466\u2013622,000), and Marc Chagall\u2019s dreamy, deep-blue La nuit enchant\u00E9e, 1964 (est. \u00A31\u20131.5 million; $1.6\u20132.3 million). Another Tiroche highlight, Pablo Picasso\u2019s busily puffing Buste d\u2019homme \u00E0 la pipe, 1969, in oil on card laid down on panel\u2014part of the artist\u2019s swaggering musketeer series\u2014?is domestically scaled at 381?4 by 16 inches and meets the market\u2019s current taste for color and flair (est. \u00A3900,000\u20131.2 million; $1.4\u20131.9 million).Beyond the Tiroche cache, a larger Picasso, Femme assise dans un fauteuil, 1960, a portrait of the artist\u2019s wife Jacqueline Roque in a bravura cascade of brushstrokes, is pegged at \u00A34 million to ?\u00A36 million ($6.1\u20139.2 million). Other expected standouts include Joan Mir\u00F3\u2019s La tige de la fleur rouge pousse vers la lune, 1952, which carries a low estimate of \u00A35.2 million ($8 million) and Wassily Kandinsky\u2019s Studie zu Improvisation 3, 1909, estimated at \u00A312 million to \u00A316 million ($19\u201325 million). The Kandinsky has been consigned by the&amp;nbsp; Nahmad family with a third-party guarantee.Choice Surrealist cuts include Salvador Dal\u00ED\u2019s mystical Le Christ de Vall\u00E9s, 1962 (est. \u00A31.5\u20132.5 mil lion; $2.3\u20133.9 million), acquired directly from the artist in the 1960s and making its auction debut, and Ren\u00E9 Magritte\u2019s commanding La chambre du devin, from the prime year of 1926 (est. \u00A3700,000\u20131 million; $1.1\u20131.5 million). \u201CThe Surreal market goes from strength to strength,\u201D observes Jay Vincze, head of Impressionist and modern art at Christie\u2019s London, \u201Cand we\u2019re trying to feed the demand.\u201DThe following night, at Sotheby\u2019s, a rare 1908 view of Venice by Claude Monet, Le Palais Contarini, could steal the spotlight. Also consigned by the Nahmads, and carrying a third-party guarantee, it has a lofty presale estimate of \u00A315 million to \u00A320 million ($23\u201331 million). The artist painted the work during a three-month trip to Venice in 1908, during one of the first Biennales there. Last sold in 1996 at Christie\u2019s New York, it was hammered down for $3.8 million. An earlier Monet, Le pont de bois, 1872, will be offered with an estimate of \u00A34 million to \u00A36 million ($6.1\u20139.2 million). The subject is a busy pedestrian bridge crossing the Argenteuil that frames mirrored reflections of light and smoke on the water. \u201CIt\u2019s really painted at the birth? of Impressionism,\u201D says Samuel Valette, a senior Imp/mod specialist at Sotheby\u2019s London, \u201Cand it doesn\u2019t feel like a painting done in the atelier but one rapidly painted outside.\u201D As if that weren\u2019t enough, the canvas carries a spectacular provenance: Its previous owners include Edouard Manet, who acquired it from Monet the year it was painted, and the Pasadena collector Norton Simon. The consignor is the estate of Gustav Rau, which is selling several of the storied collector\u2019s works to benefit UNICEF Germany.Sotheby\u2019s is also offering a rare-to-market Piet Mondrian, Composition with Red, Yellow, and Blue, 1927, divided by thick lines of black against broad ?white expanses and housed in the artist\u2019s original frame. The painting last sold at auction at Christie\u2019s London in April 1990 for? \u00A31.76 million ($2.87 million); the estimate here starts at \u00A34.5 million and goes up to \u00A36.5 million ($7\u201310 million). \u201CIt is the epitome of Abstraction,\u201D says Valette, \u201Cand the epitome of modernism in the first half of the 20th century.\u201DContemporaryThe atmosphere may be bullish at the top of the contemporary market, but some experts sense hesitation creeping in. \u201CIt\u2019s a strange situation,\u201D says Francis Outred, international director and head of postwar and contemporary art for Christie\u2019s Europe. \u201CThe market is buoyant and strong, and the things that come to auction are performing very well...yet there seems to be a slight shyness to bring things to auction.\u201D Although the European financial markets have largely stabilized, the houses\u2019 new emphasis on private sales may be giving sellers too many options when deciding to consign.That wasn\u2019t the case, however, for a passel put up by the Spanish developer Grupo Urvasco S.A. at Christie\u2019s. The 46 works are all by or related to Eduardo Chillida, including sculptures and paintings by an international cast of artists influenced by him, and were exhibited ?at the Guggenheim Bilbao in 2006 under the banner \u201CHomage to Chillida.\u201D Nine, including one of the Basque artist\u2019s last monumental Corten steel sculptures, Buscando la Luz IV, 2001 (est. \u00A34\u20136 million; $6.2\u20139.3 million), will appear in the house\u2019s June 25 evening sale. On a lighter note, the house also has John Currin\u2019s Daughter and Mother,&amp;nbsp;1997, whose greeting- card feel is derailed by the daughter\u2019s Dolly Parton-esque build. Shown in Currin\u2019s breakout exhibition at Sadie Coles HQ in London, it is expected to fetch between \u00A31.4 million and \u00A31.8 million ($2.2\u20132.8 million). And Peter Doig\u2019s Jetty, 1994, is priced at \u00A34 million to \u00A36 million ($6.2\u20139 million).&amp;nbsp;On June 26 at Sotheby\u2019s two Francis Bacon paintings lead the evening sale. The earlier is Head III, 1949 (est. \u00A35\u20137 million; $7.7\u201310.8 million), from a series of six \u201CHead\u201D paintings included in the artist\u2019s first commercial exhibition, at Erica Brausen\u2019s Hanover Gallery, and? one of three not in a museum collection. \u201CIt\u2019s really the first time he paints a human face,\u201D says Alexander Branczik, senior director of contemporary art at Sotheby\u2019s London, \u201Cand this one is very existential, with the grisaille colors and influence of Alberto Giacometti.\u201DThe sale\u2019s other Bacon, a ravishing 1966 triptych portraying London artist and designer Isabel Rawsthorne in a kind of time-lapse style, is tagged at \u00A310 million to \u00A315 million ($15.5\u201323.2 million). It last sold at Christie\u2019s in June 2004 for \u00A32,357,250 ($4.3 million). The recent surge of Bacons coming to market after a dip in 2008 is a good sign that the market &amp;nbsp;for his work has recovered.Sotheby\u2019s is also featuring Martin Kippenberger\u2019s stunning Untitled (Self Portrait), which the late artist, already in failing health, painted in 1992 (est. \u00A31.2\u20131.8 million; $1.9\u20132.8 million), and Bridget Riley\u2019s dizzying composition Stretch,&amp;nbsp;1964 (est. \u00A31\u20131.5 million; $1.5\u20132.3 million). Rounding out the sale will be five of Andreas Gursky\u2019s large scale exchange photos, offered from a private collection, the highest estimated of which are Chicago Board of Trade III, 1999-2009, and \u201CChicago Board of Trade, 1997,\u201D each estimated at \u00A3600,000 to \u00A3800,000 ($930,000\u20131.2 million).Closing out the week, Phillips has Jean-Michel Basquiat\u2019s Three Pontificators, 1984 (est. \u00A33.5\u20135.5 million; $5.4\u20138.5 million) in its June 27 evening sale. Also among its expected top sellers is Glenn Brown\u2019s Oscillate Wildly (after \u2018Autumnal Cannibalism,\u2019) 1936 by Salvador Dal\u00ED),&amp;nbsp;1999 which is estimated at \u00A32.5 million to \u00A33.5 million ($3.9\u20135.4 million).With additional reporting from Eileen Kinsella.To see images, click on the slideshow."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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