Monet's 'Iris' Sells for $56 Million in Paris After 42-Minute Bidding Fight
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Oct 22
Monet's 'Iris' Sells for $56 Million in Paris After 42-Minute Bidding Fight
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 22
Summary
€50 million — about $56 million — bought Claude Monet’s “Iris” at Sotheby’s in Paris after a 42-minute contest involving at least six telephone bidders.
An Asian client secured the work through Sotheby’s Asia deputy chairman Jen Hua, far above the painting’s €20 million to €30 million estimate.
The roughly 5-by-6-foot canvas, painted around 1924-25 near the end of Monet’s life, depicts flowers in his Giverny water garden and was described by dealers as “mega-rare.”
Paris has been drawing more top-end consignments as Brexit made London less attractive for art sales, though the result still fell well below Monet’s $110.7 million auction record set in 2019.