In brief
Iris sold for 50 million euros including fees on Thursday, 22 October, against an estimate of 22 to 30 million euros, according to Sotheby's.
The sale of 23 works from the Schlumberger collection raised 74.4 million euros (83.7 million dollars), the highest total Sotheby's has reached for an art sale in France.
Three Cézanne paintings classed as national treasures were pulled hours before bidding started, with a view to their return to Aix-en-Provence, where the city is weighing acquisition for the Musée Granet.
A record sale in Paris
Sotheby's sold Claude Monet's "Iris" in Paris on Thursday, 22 October, for 50 million euros including fees. Sotheby's says that makes it the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction in France. The monumental canvas was painted between 1924 and 1925, late in Monet's life, and had been estimated at between 22 and 30 million euros before the sale. It measures 1.60 meters high by 1.80 meters wide and was shown to the public for the first time at this sale. The painting had never left the Paris mansion of the Schlumberger family. Thomas Bompard, co-head of Sotheby's France's modern and contemporary art department, said the collector Jeanne Schlumberger (1889-1983) had bought it from the painter's family.
The bidding and the Schlumberger collection
Six bidders took part in a contest that lasted 45 minutes, and the decisive phase came in the final 20 minutes. Two collectors bid by telephone through Jen Hua, deputy chairman of Sotheby's Asia, and Josephine Viat, associate specialist in the Impressionist and Modern Art department. Hua won the lot on behalf of a private Asian collector. "Iris" was the lead lot in the sale of the Schlumberger collection, 23 works that had long stayed away from the market. The full sale raised 74.4 million euros, or 83.7 million dollars, the highest total Sotheby's has reached for an art sale in France. The Monet price also overtakes the previous French auction record, set in 2010 by Amedeo Modigliani's limestone sculpture "Tête de Caryatide", which sold for 43.2 million euros.
- Iris (Sotheby's, 2026)
- 50 million euros
- Tête de Caryatide (2010)
- 43.2 million euros
Data from the article text
Cézanne works and the Christie's sale
Three Cézanne paintings classed as national treasures were withdrawn from the sale a few hours before bidding began. Sotheby's says the works were pulled with a view to their return to Aix-en-Provence, the painter's birthplace. The house says the current owners and the city, with support from the Ministry of Culture, are weighing an acquisition of the works for the Musée Granet. Christie's held a separate sale the same day, in which 26 works sold for a combined 41.6 million euros including fees. Two Monets were among the lots: "Bord des falaises à Pourville" fetched 12.7 million euros and "Trois pots de tulipes" 3.1 million euros. A Renoir, "Jeunes filles au bord de la mer", sold for 5.8 million euros, while Picasso's "Nature morte au gruyère" reached 3 million euros.
- Bord des falaises à Pourville
- 12.7 million euros
- Jeunes filles au bord de la mer
- 5.8 million euros
- Trois pots de tulipes
- 3.1 million euros
- Nature morte au gruyère
- 3 million euros
Data from the article text
What remains open
The Cézanne acquisition is still under consideration, and no source reports that it has been completed. Sotheby's named the Musée Granet as the intended home for the works. The buyer of "Iris" is described only as a private Asian collector, and no source names him or her. The Christie's total of 41.6 million euros and the Sotheby's total of 74.4 million euros come from separate sales held on the same day.