Rodin's 'Éternel printemps' Fetches Record $20M at Sotheby's, Outpacing Cattelan's $17M Hitler

At Sotheby's New York, Auguste Rodin's marble sculpture 'Éternel printemps' (1901-03) sold for over $20 million, setting a new auction record for the artist. The sale came just 24 hours after Maurizio Cattelan's 'Him' (the Hitler sculpture) achieved $17 million at Christie's, prompting commentary on the market's appetite for classical versus contemporary works. The Rodin piece was part of Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale, which totaled $144 million—the weakest result for the auction house in five years, down from $368 million in the same sale the previous year. Of 62 lots offered, 22 went unsold, including a Derain estimated at up to $20 million. Other top lots included Maurice de Vlaminck's 'Sous-bois' at over $16 million and Paul Signac's 'Maisons du port, Saint-Tropez' at just over $10 million. Claude Monet's 'Marée basse aux Petites-Dalles' tripled its estimate, selling for $9.9 million.