Monet may push Christie's auction to record total in U.K.

3 June 2010 - by ArtfixDaily Staff

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Claude Monet's 1906 “Nympheas” will be offered by Christie's June 23.

A Claude Monet water-lily painting is expected to reach 40 million pounds ($58.6 million) at Christie's June 23 sale of Impressionist works in London. Together, Monet’s 1906 “Nympheas” and Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period “Portrait of Angel Fernandez de Soto” may push the sale total to between 163.7 million pounds and 231.2 million pounds, making it the highest grossing art auction in the U.K. ever.

Collectors have recently taken more of an interest in Monet's later works, edging up prices. Another 1906 "Nympheas," owned by Steven A. Cohen, is on view in “Claude Monet: Late Work” at the Gagosian Gallery in New York. The one offered by Christie's sold in 2000 for $20.9 million. A 1919 Monet canvas “Le Bassin aux Nympheas” garnered a record price of 40.9 million pounds in 2008.

A series of nearly 250 water-lily paintings were done in Monet's Giverny garden near the end of the artist's life. Many were painted when Monet's vision was impaired by cataracts.

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