June 19 (Bloomberg) -- Claude Monet's painting of Waterloo Bridge doubled its top estimate while a view of his rose garden in France fell short of its low valuation at a Christie's International sale last night in London.

The world's largest auction house took in 121.1 million pounds ($240 million), including commissions, beating its top target. Monet's 1904 ``Waterloo Bridge, Temps Couvert'' sold for 17.9 million pounds, with fees, to a U.S. collector bidding on the telephone.

Christie's kicked off a week of auctions where sellers attracted by rising prices may offer as much as 435 million pounds of Impressionist to contemporary art, about 50 percent more than last year. New buyers' changing taste sent some pictures soaring last night and left others in the lurch.

``The auction seesawed between the crazy and the unloved,'' London dealer James Roundell said as he left the saleroom. ``I didn't have the urge to buy anything.''

Eighteen percent of the 72 lots didn't sell, including semi- nudes by Edgar Degas and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Fifty-four percent of the pictures topped their estimates, said Christie's European president, Jussi Pylkkanen, at a post-sale press conference.

Miro, Goncharova Records

Records were set for Joan Miro, whose 1940 red and yellow ``Le Coq'' took 6.6 million pounds from a telephone bidder, and Natalia Goncharova's ``Picking Apples'' from the early 1900s, which sold to an unidentified European collector for 4.9 million pounds, trebling its top estimate. The sellers' family bought it in 1962 from the artist, according to Christie's catalog.

Buyers were 78 percent Europeans, including Russians, Pylkkanen said. U.S. purchasers took 21 percent of the lots.

``We have new collectors for Impressionist art,'' Pylkkanen said before the sale.

A Maurice de Vlaminck landscape topped its estimate on a winning bid by the same purchaser who paid 5.7 million pounds for Peter Doig's ``White Canoe'' in February. With a Russian or East European accent, he has always declined to give his name.

New York dealer William Acquavella bought Miro's ``Le Vent'' at a discount to the top estimate.

Rene Magritte's 1959 ``Le Sabbat,'' with an upside-down easel in a landscape, took 4.5 million pounds from a European bidding on the phone. It was once owned by Monaco-based dealer and collector David Nahmad, who said he sold it in 1975 for $100,000.

Nahmad's verdict on the sale: ``There were not a lot of great pictures.''

Monet's Roses

The most highly valued lot was Monet's 1913 rose bower painting, ``Les Arceaux de Roses, Giverny,'' estimated at 9 million pounds to 12 million pounds. Pylkkanen described it in an interview before the sale as a ``classic Monet.'' An unidentified European in the room paid a hammer price of 8 million pounds, or 9 million pounds with fees.

``Waterloo Bridge,'' once owned by film director Alexander Korda, had a more modern look, with a hazy rendering of the London landmark, and was valued at 6 million pounds to 8 million pounds. The seller was a Japanese collector who bought the picture for $3.4 million in 1990 at Sotheby's in New York, according to Christie's catalog and sale-tracker Artnet AG.

They are two of three paintings by the French Impressionist carrying top estimates of 8 million pounds or more that are competing for buyers this week. Tomorrow, Sotheby's has a 1904 Monet water-lily painting, ``Nympheas,'' expected to bring as much as 15 million pounds for the family of a collector who bought it from Monet's son, Michel. The auction house has marketed it as one of the artist's more contemporary-looking works. Monet's auction record is 19.8 million pounds.

Prices Rise

Prices for the top European Impressionist paintings have risen 39 percent this year, though they still stand below their 1990 peak, before the art market crashed, according to index- maker Art Market Research. Meanwhile, the most expensive contemporary works have appreciated 50 percent since December, setting all-time highs.

Monet's rose painting is one of 10 works from a New York collection that Christie's offered at a combined top estimate of 19 million pounds. Christie's has a financial interest in the collection, either a guarantee of a minimum price or an advance to the seller, the catalog said.

The London sales, fueled by U.S. sellers, are part of a $2.8 billion spring art bonanza, including New York's May auctions and the Art Basel fair in Switzerland.

Buyers pay a 20 percent commission on the first 250,000 pounds and 12 percent on the rest of the hammer price. Estimates are pre-commission and records are calculated after adding fees.

Christie's valued its sale at 78.4 million pounds to 108.7 million pounds. The evening sale last year totaled 87 million pounds, including commissions.

To contact the reporter on this story: Linda Sandler in London at lsandler@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 18, 2007 20:16 EDT