Hermann Gerlinger wished: there would be no subsequent sale of any declines in the auction of his collection.

Apparently he wanted to encourage people to bid when called instead of hoping for discounted deals for returns.

It is unlikely that the incentive would have been needed: the second tranche of Gerlinger's collection of works and documents from the Brücke artists' community, which Ketterer auctioned off in Munich for the benefit of charitable causes, also met with a great response.

Almost all lots were sold, and at excellent prices.

The hall was so full that without a reservation it was almost impossible to find a seat, but the majority of the bids came in by telephone, in writing or online.

This was also the case when lot number four, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff's Cubist-tinged portrait of Else Lasker-Schüler as "Reader", was awarded the first million surcharge: Robert Ketterer ended the persistent back and forth between three telephones with his hammer at 3.4 million euros in favor of an entrepreneur from North Rhine-Westphalia.

With premium, he pays 4.06 million (estimate 700,000 to 900,000 euros).

Schmidt-Rottluff's powerful nude picture "Rote Düne" fetched 1.6 million euros (800,000/1.2 million) against the auction price, and his "Moonlight", described by Ernst Gosebruch as "enchanting", also exceeded the estimate at 900,000 euros;

both pictures go to German private collections.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner shared the upper ranks with Schmidt-Rottluff, but was a good deal further ahead.

His "Blue Girl in the Sun", the star of the evening, was sold as the showpiece of the collection, painted in 1910, after an international battle by a bidder in Munich for double the top estimate, i.e. four million euros.

Second place went to Kirchner, too, when a bid from America for his "Hockende", a wooden sculpture from 1910, quadrupled the upper estimate at 3.6 million and outperformed five telephone bidders.

"Fehmarn Coast with Lighthouse", also this one by Kirchner, caused bids from Switzerland to climb to one million euros (700,000/900,000).

Comparatively more modest were the prices for Erich Heckel.

His "Standing", a rarity in the oeuvre as a sculpture, brought in the underestimate at 600,000 euros,

Lots of other origins were also sold at high prices that evening.

Lovis Corinth's "Lesende", which the Nazis stole from the Jewish collector couple Emil and Sophie Kaim in Breslau in 1940, was sold after an agreement was reached with the Kaims' heirs and rose to 450,000 euros (250,000/350,000).

Emil Nolde's foaming "Sea" from 1930 made waves in Switzerland with 800,000 euros (800,000/1.2 million), and the "Holzsäger im Wald", a work by Max Beckmann whose whereabouts were unknown for a long time, was honored by a North German collector with a medium price Estimate of 700,000 euros.

Five times the hammer knocked down results in the millions, and including the premium, there are eight of them - including the "Hofteich" by Georg Baselitz, sold for 850,000 euros (700,000/900,000),

and with the same result Richard Serra's steel work "Corner Pop No.

6”, the transport of which to Florida will likely cost the new owner quite a bit (600,000/800,000).

At the end of the year, Ketterer can adorn itself with superlatives: the December auction was the most successful in the company's history.

For 2022, the house reports total proceeds of more than 100 million euros including premium for the first time.

With 59 million, the best result of the season in Germany was achieved for the ninth time.

Contemporary art made a significant contribution to this, such as Tony Cragg's “Distant Cousin” in stainless steel, which jumped from €240,000 to €440,000.

A colorful rectangular composition by Stanley Whitney, who appeared here for the first time on the German auction market, doubled the estimate at 460,000 euros.

Although also less known in this country, David Wojnarowicz, an artist from the New York subculture who died young in 1992 as a result of AIDS, recorded 350.

Portfolios and documentation material from the Gerlinger collection, including invitation and membership cards, posters and early catalogues, sold like hot cakes in the day sale the following day.

And for the coming year, Ketterer has again announced some things from this large pool.