Claude Monet’s ‘Iris’ sells for €50m at Sotheby’s Paris

Claude Monet’s monumental painting, ‘Iris’ (1924-25), sold for €50 million ($56 million) at a Sotheby’s auction in Paris on October 22. The sale price significantly exceeded the initial estimate of €22 million to €30 million and established a new record for the most expensive work by the Impressionist artist sold in France.

The painting, which had not been displayed in public since its creation, was part of the Schlumberger Collection. It was acquired by an Asian client via telephone during a 45-minute bidding war involving six potential buyers. The work is the largest of Monet’s celebrated Iris series still held in private hands.

The auction, which dispersed the collection of Jeanne Schlumberger, an heir to the Schlumberger oil company, totaled €74.4 million ($83.7 million) including fees. This surpassed the pre-sale estimate of €40 million, with three-quarters of the 27 lots sold exceeding their high estimates. Other notable sales from the collection included two additional Monet paintings, ‘Saule pleureur’ for €9.7 million and ‘La Seine à Vernon, l’arbre’ for €4.3 million.