A large Claude Monet painting titled “Iris” sold for 50 million euros (approximately $56 million) at Sotheby’s auction house in Paris on Thursday, concluding a lengthy bidding contest that lasted 42 minutes. The painting, which depicts flowers above the water in Monet’s celebrated lily pond, attracted at least six telephone bidders before being purchased by an Asian buyer represented by Jen Hua, Sotheby’s deputy chairman of Asia.
Measuring about five feet tall and nearly six feet wide, “Iris” was likely painted outdoors in 1924-25 during the final years of Monet’s life. The work captures flowers swaying above reflected skies, embodying themes from Monet’s renowned water garden in Giverny. It had been estimated to sell between 20 million and 30 million euros prior to the auction.
Specialists noted the rarity of such late-period Monet paintings on the market. Helly Nahmad, a London-based modern art dealer, described the auction’s intensity as unprecedented for Monet works, while Sotheby’s emphasized the increasing demand for these large, late impressions that resonate with later 20th-century art styles. Helena Newman, Sotheby’s worldwide chairman of Impressionist & Modern art, characterized “Iris” as a museum-quality painting comparable to pieces held in prominent Parisian institutions.
The painting originated from the collection of Jeanne Schlumberger, an heiress of the Schlumberger energy company lineage. She amassed much of her collection during the 1950s and 1960s with the assistance of Paris dealer Katia Granoff. Granoff had purchased around 50 Monet paintings directly from the artist’s son Michel in 1956, with “Iris” joining Schlumberger’s holdings a year later. According to Thomas Barnard, a senior international specialist at Sotheby’s Paris, the work remained privately held, never publicly exhibited.
The sale was part of a broader auction marking the 100th anniversary of Monet’s death, featuring 27 pieces from the Schlumberger collection and generating a total of about 74.4 million euros ($83.5 million). Dealers noted that shifts in the European art market, including the impact of Brexit making London a less favorable venue for such sales, have led more collectors to choose Paris for major auctions.
Experts also highlighted the growing recognition of Monet’s influence on later modern art movements such as Abstract Expressionism, challenging the traditional narrative focusing primarily on Paul Cézanne as a key precursor. Cyrille de Gunzburg, a private Paris dealer, noted that works from Monet’s late period are increasingly viewed as significant for their role in the development of modern art.
The record for a Monet painting remains $110.7 million, achieved in 2019 at Sotheby’s for “Meules” (Grainstacks), a piece from 1890; adjusted for inflation, that price would exceed $145 million today. In contrast, “Iris” illustrates the strong market appeal of Monet’s later works, which are now attracting considerable interest from collectors worldwide.