Claude Monet’s “Iris” was sold late on Thursday for €50 million ($56.05 million), becoming the most expensive work of art sold at auction in France, Sotheby’s said.
The painting, completed towards the end of Monet’s life, attracted frantic bidding with six people battling it out for 45 minutes for the piece, before the final two continued to scrabble for a further 20 minutes.
“Iris” finally went to an Asian collector who bid over the phone.
The painting was one of several works up for auction from the Schlumberger Collection and had been expected to sell between €22 million and €30 million.
The previous French auction record was set in 2010, by Amedeo Modigliani’s “Head of a Caryatid,” which sold for €43.2 million.
The sale comes in the year marking the centenary of Monet’s death on December 5, 1926, which is being commemorated by two Paris exhibitions — “Monet, Painting Time” and “Stories of Landscapes, from Monet to Hockney.”
Three paintings by Paul Cezanne classified as “national treasures” were withdrawn from the sale a few hours before the auction began “with a view to their return to the artist’s hometown, Aix-en-Provence,” Sotheby’s said.
It followed an agreement between the current owners and the city of Aix-en-Provence, which, with the support of the French culture ministry, is considering acquiring these works.
Another Paris auction on Thursday by Christie’s saw 26 works being sold, including two Monet paintings — “Bord des falaises a Pourville”, which went for €12.7 million and “Trois pots de tulipes”, which sold for €3.1 million euros.
A work by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, “Jeunes filles au bord de la mer,” fetched €5.8 million, while “Nature morte au gruyere” by Pablo Picasso sold for €3 million.
The total amount of Christie’s sale was €41.6 million, buyers fees included.
