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    "original_url": "https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/10\/22\/arts\/design\/claude-monet-painting-auction-paris.html?emc=edit_nn_20261024&nl=the-morning&segment_id=228603",
    "parsed_content": "AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTSupported bySKIP ADVERTISEMENTMonet Painting Sells for $56 Million in FranceThe artwork, titled \u201cIris,\u201d is among the painter\u2019s later works, which wealthy collectors have coveted in recent years.Listen \u00b7 4:21 min Share full articleClaude Monet\u2019s \u201cIris\" on display at Sotheby\u2019s Paris before the auction.Credit...Abdul Saboor\/ReutersBy Scott ReyburnReporting from ParisPublished Oct. 22, 2026Updated Oct. 24, 2026, 1:48 a.m. ETSee more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra m\u00e1s de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de b\u00fasqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google A large Claude Monet painting of flowers in his Giverny water garden sold for 50 million euros (about $56 million) at Sotheby\u2019s in Paris on Thursday.After a 42-minute bidding tussle between at least six would-be buyers on telephones, the painting, titled \u201cIris,\u201d was bought by an Asian client bidding by phone with Jen Hua, deputy chairman of Sotheby\u2019s Asia.\u201cI\u2019ve never seen bidding that long,\u201d said Helly Nahmad, a London dealer who specializes in modern art.\u201cIt was insane,\u201d he added, \u201cbut these things are mega-rare.\u201dThe world record for a Monet painting is $110.7 million, set in 2019 at Sotheby\u2019s with the sale of the 1890 painting \u201cMeules,\u201d or \u201cGrainstacks.\u201d (The price would be $145.7 million today, adjusted for inflation.)AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\u201cIris,\u201d which is about 5 feet tall and nearly 6 feet wide, depicts flowers swaying above skies reflected in Monet\u2019s famous lily pond. Experts think the canvas was painted in the open air in 1924-25, toward the end of the artist\u2019s life. It had been estimated to sell for between \u20ac20 million to \u20ac30 million.Until recently, owners of high-value artworks routinely consigned their trophies to auctions in either New York or London. But since Brexit has made Britain a less attractive destination for art sales, European collectors have been more willing to sell in Paris.ImageThe Monet painting depicts flowers swaying above skies reflected in the artist\u2019s famous lily pond in Giverny, France.Credit...Damien Perronnet, Blok Design Group & Art Digital Studio, Sotheby\u2019sIn March, Alon Zakaim, a London dealer, offered a rare pair of Monet \u201cseries\u201d landscape paintings from the 1890s at TEFAF Maastricht, in the Netherlands, with an asking price of $20 million. They found a buyer after the fair.\u201cIt was a pretty painting with a modern look that attracts new buyers,\u201d Zakaim said of the painting sold on Thursday. \u201cIt relates well to later 20th-century works,\u201d he added. \u201cThe appetite for these large, late Monet paintings is increasing.\u201dAdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\u201cIris\u201d had been in the collection of Jeanne Schlumberger, an heiress to the Schlumberger energy company, now known as SLB. During the 1950s and \u201960s, with the help of the pioneering Paris dealer Katia Granoff, Schlumberger amassed an extensive collection of Impressionist and modern art, including late paintings by Monet, which were then out of fashion, according to Sotheby\u2019s.\u201cIris\u201d was among about 50 Monets that Granoff bought from the artist\u2019s son Michel in 1956. Schlumberger acquired it the following year.\u201cOnce the painting arrived in her house, it left the world,\u201d Thomas Bompard, a senior international specialist at Sotheby\u2019s Paris, said in an interview before the auction. He said the painting had \u201cnever been exhibited.\u201dImageAn undated photo of Jeanne Schlumberger, who bought \u201cIris\u201d in 1957.Credit...The Schlumberger Family ArchivesSchlumberger died in 1983, and her descendants have chosen the 100th anniversary of Monet\u2019s death to sell \u201cIris\u201d and 26 other works from her collection at Sotheby\u2019s.Cyrille de Gunzburg, a private dealer in Paris, said in an interview at the Sotheby\u2019s pre-auction view that he had negotiated the sale of a Monet from a similar date for $15 million in 2013.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT\u201cArt history tells us that C\u00e9zanne was the big influence on Modern art,\u201d he said. \u201cPaintings like this show it was also Monet.\u201dIn recent years, as Monet\u2019s influence on Abstract Expressionism and other 20th-century art movements has been more widely appreciated, wealthy collectors have coveted the artist\u2019s late works.\u201cThis painting could be benchmarked against the great Monets in the museums of Paris,\u201d said Helena Newman, Sotheby\u2019s worldwide chairman of Impressionist & Modern art. \u201cIt was a true museum quality work.\u201dOverall, the Schlumberger collection raised \u20ac74.4 million, or about $83.5 million.AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENT"
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