A painting by French artist Claude Monet, "Irises," which had never been exhibited to the general public, was sold at a Sotheby's auction in Paris for €50 million, or approximately $56 million. The canvas set a record as the most valuable work of art ever sold at auction in France. Bloomberg reports, according to UNN.
Details
The painting was put up for sale by the heirs of the Schlumberger family. It was initially estimated at between €22 million and €30 million, but the final price, including the buyer's premium, far exceeded expectations. The new owner is a private collector from Asia.
Monet painted "Schlumberger Irises" in 1924–1925 at his home in Giverny, near Paris. The work belongs to the final period of the artist's career, when he created his famous paintings depicting water lilies.
Why Monet's painting was never exhibited
The canvas previously belonged to Jeanne Schlumberger, a renowned art collector and the wife of one of the founders of Schlumberger, which now operates under the name SLB.
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The owner categorically refused to lend the painting to museums for exhibitions and kept it in a private residence on Paris's Left Bank.
As a result, the canvas has been preserved in exceptional condition. According to Sotheby's representatives, the painting has not undergone any restoration work; in particular, it was neither varnished nor relined.
The previous auction record for a Monet painting depicting irises was $17.1 million. At the same time, the artist's most expensive work remains "Meules," which was sold at a Sotheby's auction in New York in 2019 for $110.7 million.