Claude Monet’s Long-Hidden ‘Iris’ Is About to Become the Most Expensive Painting Ever Auctioned in France
The artwork reflects the famed Impressionist’s later, abstract style. Sotheby’s estimates that it will sell for $25 million to $34 million
A never-before-seen painting by Claude Monet, known for works such as Water Lilies and Impression, Sunrise, is set to be auctioned in France. The artwork, titled Iris, is estimated to fetch a minimum of $25 million, potentially becoming the most expensive painting ever sold in the country. Measuring approximately five by six feet, it is one of Monet's largest creations from his final decade.
The painting, long kept in a private collection and known only through black-and-white photographs, is now on display at Sotheby’s Paris for the first time. Impressionism and Monet expert Marianne Mathieu describes it as "classic, exemplary" and "moving." Monet passed away in 1926 at the age of 86.
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