One of the largest auctions of fine art in Slovenia has fallen well short of expectations with only ten of the 38 works of art on offer changing hands for a total of €179,000 where none fetched the values desired by the sellers.

Organised by the Sloart Gallery, the auction at the Grand Plaza Hotel in Ljubljana on 7 December featured works by most prominent Slovenian artists from the periods of Expressionism, Impressionism, and Modernism.

Ahead of the auction, the gallery said the total estimated value of the artworks put up for auction exceeded €1 million. In fact, it fetched €179,000 in total, including the 20% auction charge on the hammer prices.

The gallery is "moderately satisfied" with the outcome. "We are neither too disappointed nor too happy. It was the first auction and some things need correcting. But we got a feedback," Damjan Kosec, the gallery's director, told the Slovenian Press Agency.

Some of the artworks were either overvalued or the expectations of the owners and buyers differed, he said, adding that the main problem of the Slovenian art market was that there are simply no reference prices, as there are no public auctions.

The most admired painting at the auction, Portrait of Mary Paumgarten and Josipine Wenckheim, née Baumgartner by the popular Realist artist Ivana Kobilca (1861-1926), was sold for €75,000, well below the estimated value of €90,000-120,000.

The pastel initially did not sell but then the seller agreed to lower the reserve price of €80,000 to meet the bid of €75,000 made by a bidder, Kosec explained, adding that it was not unusual for a work to be re-entered during the auctioning process.

One of the reasons for the auction falling short of expectations was that many key buyers failed to take part for one reason or another.

"Some were abroad, and some others were apprehensive about being exposed too much," he said. He expects it will probably take some time to build trust among buyers so they will come forward and then it "will be an open game".

Going forward, they are planning to hold two auctions annually, one in late May and one in early December. The May auction is likely to see contemporary art alongside older works, while the December auction will focus on Impressionism, Expressionism and Modernism.

They are planning to test the same system for five years before making any final conclusions.

Media have reported that the other works sold at the auction included paintings by František Kralj (€3,600), Fran Tratnik (€5,400), Hinko Smrekar (€8,400), Matija Jama (€12,000), Matej Sternen (€12,000), a pre-Impressionist church composition by Ivan Grohar (€24,000) and Silvester Komel (€9,000), as well as sculptures by Ivan Napotnik (€6,000) and Zdenko Kalin (€8,400).

The highest valued painting was Gabrijel Stupica's Tempera and collage on canvas Peasant Woman (Radion) at €130,000-150,000, but that work was not sold.