Claude Monet painting sets French auction record

A Claude Monet painting titled ‘Iris’ has become the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction in France. The piece, painted between 1924 and 1925 in the artist’s Giverny garden, sold for 50 million euros (approximately 56 million dollars) at Sotheby’s Paris.

The sale, part of the ‘Le Temps retrouvé’ dispersal of the Schlumberger collection, far exceeded initial estimates of 22 to 30 million euros. The auction involved intense competition, with telephone bidding lasting approximately 45 minutes before an Asian collector secured the work.

‘Iris’ had remained largely out of the public eye for decades within a private collection, known primarily through black-and-white photography. Its exceptional state of conservation and its origin from Monet’s final creative period contributed to its record-breaking price, surpassing the previous French record of 43.2 million euros set by an Amedeo Modigliani work in 2010.