Claude Monet: 'Iris' becomes most expensive artwork sold at auction in France

Claude Monet’s painting Iris sold for €50 million ($56 million) in Paris on Thursday, setting a new record for the most expensive artwork sold at auction in France, according to Sotheby’s. The piece, which was completed toward the end of the artist's life, was expected to sell between €22 million and €30 million. Free Malaysia Today reported that the sale involved frantic bidding between six people for 45 minutes, followed by an additional 20 minutes of competition between the final two bidders. The painting was ultimately acquired by an Asian collector via telephone.

According to Gulf News, the 1.60 metre high and 1.80 metre wide work had previously been known only through a black-and-white photograph, as it had never left the Paris mansion of the Schlumberger family. The painting was acquired by Jeanne Schlumberger (1889–1983), according to Thomas Bompard, co-head of the Modern and Contemporary Art Department at Sotheby’s France.

The sale was part of an auction featuring works from the Schlumberger Collection, which included three other Monet canvases, such as Saule Pleureur, valued at 9-12 million euros.

The sale of Iris breaks the previous French auction record of €43.2 million set in 2010 by Amedeo Modigliani’s Head of a Caryatid, according to Free Malaysia Today. Gulf News noted that three paintings by Paul Cezanne, classified as national treasures, were withdrawn from the sale a few hours before the auction began.

Brief written by urgent.news from Daily Maverick, Free Malaysia Today, Gulf News — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.