PARIS.- The felt-tip drawing made in 1984 on the bonnet of Madame Françoise Boisrond's car by American artist Keith Haring was a wonderful testimony to the artist's friendship with François Boisrond. The work created a sensation at Bonhams’ Art de l'Avant-Garde à nos jours, fetching €365,775 against an estimate of €50,000-70,000. The sale, which included a section devoted to the Second School of Paris, another to Italian Art, and a third to Abstraction-Creation, achieved a total of over €2.9 million.

In the Italian section, a Teatrino (little theatre) from 1964-1966 by Lucio Fontana realised €214,575. The dark lacquered wooden frame on this piece was irregularly cut, framing a black monochrome background pierced with small holes which evoked constellations in a night sky. Fontana’s 1967 Concetto spaziale, natura from the Iolas Gallery fetched an exceptional €176,775 (estimate: €80,000-120,000). An important 1967 canvas by Agostino Bonalumi entitled Bianco, presented to the market for the first time, sold for €183,075 (estimate: €150,000-200,000).

Works by Peter Joseph were met with enthusiasm from bidders during the sale, winning a world record for a work by the artist at auction with Pink Orange Colour with Brown which fetched €44,475. This painting reveals the importance of colour against line, which becomes the subject. A work on paper, Dark Green center, dated 1981, reached the price of €4,462, a record for a work on paper at auction.

Giacomo Balsamo, International Director of the Post-War & Contemporary Art, said: "With the results of this sale, Paris confirms its position as a benchmark for the 20th and 21st century European Modern and Contemporary Art market. Keith Haring was hailed with an exceptional price for his drawing on the bonnet of Madame Boisrond's car. Works never seen before on the market with prestigious origins are always well received and reach consistently high prices. As an Italian, I must highlight the excellent results achieved by works by Fontana and Bonalumi.”

Other key lots in the sale include:

• Chu Teh-Chun's Profondeurs veloutées, 1991, oil on canvas, reveals the omnipresence of nature, which is inseparable from his work, selling for €277,575.

• Georges Mathieu's Ornithogale, a large 1978 oil on canvas from a private collection, sold for €151,575 and Résignation ailée circa 1990-1991 by the same artist sold for €107,475.

• Japanese artist Toshimitsu Imaï, a great master of Informal Art, was hailed with a fine bid of €120,075 for Two Hands from 1962 following an Imaï exhibition in our salons during Art Basel + last October.

• Cuban painter Wifredo Lam, whose paintings combine Western modernism with African and Caribbean symbols, more than quadrupled his low estimate with a 1973 work on canvas selling for €113,775 (estimate: €20,000-30,000)