Monet's Iris Sets French Auction Record at $56.2 Million

Claude Monet's painting Iris sold for roughly $56.2 million at Sotheby's Paris on October 22, a record for any work of art sold at auction in France. The sale followed a 42-minute telephone bidding contest among at least six collectors and ended with a private buyer in Asia.

The canvas dates to 1924 or 1925, shortly before Monet's death in December 1926, and stands roughly five feet high and close to six feet across. London dealer Helly Nahmad told the New York Times that the bidding was unusually long and described the work as "mega-rare." Another London dealer, Alon Zakaim, said demand for these large, late Monet paintings is growing.

Iris passed from the heirs of Jeanne Schlumberger, a family enriched by the oil business, and had not been exhibited publicly. It had hung for decades in the Schlumberger family residence in Paris. The heirs chose 2026, a century after Monet's death, to offer the canvas. Thomas Bompard, who co-leads modern and contemporary art at Sotheby's France, said the work remains in "miraculous" condition.

Art historian Marianne Mathieu, a former curator at Paris's Musée Marmottan Monet, said that as Monet aged he was "no longer painting landscapes, but atmosphere, space and time." She added that the artist created "a pure pictorial world freed from conventional perspective and fixed horizons." Bompard said collectors such as Schlumberger and Paris dealer Katia Granoff understood that Monet's late works were "not the final chapters of Impressionism, but the opening pages of modernism and abstraction." Granoff acquired Iris and about 50 other Monets from the painter's son Michel in the 1950s, and ARTnews reported that Schlumberger appears to have helped finance that purchase.

The October 22 auction took in about $83.7 million overall. Almost 75 percent of lots sold for more than the top of their estimated ranges, according to ARTnews. Other Monet canvases performed well: Saule pleureur ou L'Arbre de feu, painted around 1918 or 1919, brought $10.9 million; La Seine à Vernon, l'arbre, an 1894 view of the river near Vernon, realized $4.8 million; and La maison à travers les roses, from 1925 or 1926, made $2.9 million.

Three early Paul Cézanne works, La Ferme, Arbres au bord de la rivière, and Ciel entre les arbres, were pulled hours before the auction began after receiving French national treasure status. Aix-en-Provence, where Cézanne was born, intends to buy the three paintings for the Musée Granet with support from France's Ministry of Culture. Bompard said Iris is "the undisputed masterpiece of the collection" and that it still feels modern.