Claude Monet’s Iris (1924–25) sold for €50 million ($56.2 million) at Sotheby’s Paris on October 22nd, the highest price for any artwork sold at auction in France, according to the house. The painting led “Le Temps Retrouvé: The Schlumberger Collection,” which made €74.4 million ($83.7 million), with every lot sold. According to Sotheby’s, this makes it the most valuable fine art sale it has held in Paris. All prices include fees.
Iris carried an estimate of €22 million to €30 million ($24.6 million to $33.5 million). It topped the previous French record, €43.2 million ($48.4 million), paid for Amedeo Modigliani’s sculpture Tête de cariatide (ca. 1909–14) at Christie’s Paris in 2010, Artnet News reported. Bidding for the Monet work lasted 45 minutes, Sotheby’s said. Jen Hua, the house’s deputy chairman for Asia, won it by phone on behalf of a private collector in Asia. According to the auction house, the work, which measures almost six feet across, is the largest painting from Monet’s 20-work “Iris” series still in private hands.
“Six bidders, 45 minutes, €50 million, and a new record high for France,” said Thomas Bompard, Sotheby’s France co-director of modern and contemporary art. “Tonight, Paris belonged to Monet.”
Other Monets were also sold by the auction house during the evening. Saule pleureur (L’arbre de feu) made €9.7 million ($10.9 million), within its €9 million to €12 million ($10.1 million to $13.5 million) estimate. Two artists also set high marks. Pierre Bonnard’s La Cueillette des Prunes sold for €2.5 million ($2.8 million), the most paid for a Bonnard at a French auction. Gustave Moreau’s Rêve d’Orient made €1.4 million ($1.6 million), a new high for a Moreau on paper. Sotheby’s says 74 percent of lots topped their high estimates.
Three works were withdrawn from the evening sale: Paul Cézanne’s La Ferme, Arbres au bord de la rivière, and Ciel entre les arbres, painted between 1862 and 1864, which France had named national treasures. The town of Aix-en-Provence, backed by the Ministry of Culture, plans to buy them for the Musée Granet. The three works carried a combined estimate of €1.4 million to €2 million ($1.6 million to $2.2 million).
The collection sold at Sotheby’s, comes from Jeanne Schlumberger, an heir to the Schlumberger oil company. She built the collection from the 1950s with the dealer Katia Granoff. Granoff, backed by the Schlumberger fortune, bought the studio holdings Monet left for his son Miche.
The sale fell during Paris Art Week, anchored by Art Basel Paris at the Grand Palais. Hauser & Wirth reported selling works by Gerhard Richter and Georg Baselitz for about $10 million each during the fair’s VIP days. The fair will now close October 23rd, two days early, citing planned protests across Paris. Sotheby’s Paris sales continue October 23rd.
from Artsy News https://ift.tt/9HcLDGq
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