Monet painting sells for €50 million, setting French auction record

A Claude Monet painting that remained hidden from public view for a century has sold for a record-breaking €50 million in Paris, setting a new benchmark for art sold at auction in France. Titled Iris, the artwork was painted between 1924 and 1925 and had never been exhibited publicly before its recent sale at Sotheby's. The piece, created during Monet's final period, depicts flowers in the loose, expressive style that became a hallmark of his later work.

Measuring almost 1.6 meters in height and 1.8 meters in width, Iris was discovered in the Paris home of the Schlumberger family, who had acquired it through the Paris gallery of Katia Granoff. The bidding process lasted nearly 45 minutes, with bidders competing by telephone, before the final price was reached. Before the auction, Iris was valued between €22 million and €30 million, and the final figure significantly surpassed expectations.

The painting's sale comes 100 years after Monet's death on December 5, 1926, and in the year of two exhibitions in Paris commemorating the anniversary. The sale of 28 works from the Schlumberger collection includes three other Monet paintings, as well as pieces by Paul Cézanne. However, the Cézanne works were withdrawn shortly before the sale due to their status as national treasures.

This sale marks a historic moment, as the painting's journey from a family collection to the public auction room has provided audiences with their first chance to see a Monet work known primarily from a black-and-white photograph.