Monet's Hidden Iris Could Set French Auction Record at Sotheby's Paris
A Claude Monet painting unseen in public for a century could become the most expensive painting ever sold at auction in France.
Iris carries an estimate, the auction house's published price guide, of €22 million to €30 million, according to The Art Newspaper. If it sells within that range, it would take the French auction record for a painting.
The canvas was executed in 1924-25, in the last years of Monet's life. It measures 160cm by 180cm. It is the largest painting from Monet's Iris series ever to come to market.
It leads a 28-lot sale — lot is the trade term for each item in an auction — from the collection of Jeanne Schlumberger at Sotheby's in Paris. The sale is scheduled for 22 October. The group as a whole is expected to fetch more than €40 million in total.
Schlumberger was an heir to the Schlumberger oil company. She died in 1984. The Monet has not been shown in public since it was created, which means no living viewer will have stood in front of it.
Sotheby's in Paris has made a run of Monet headlines this year. In April, the house unveiled two rediscovered Monet landscapes at auction to mark the centenary of the artist's death, Reuters reported. One of them, Vétheuil, effet du matin, then set a new auction record in France when it sold for €10.2 million, according to Sotheby's.
What makes this stand out is the wait. A very large, very late Monet has sat out of sight for 100 years. On 22 October, everyone gets to see what the market thinks it is worth.
