Never-exhibited Monet sets France auction record with $56 million sale

Sotheby's sold Claude Monet's "Iris," a painting that had not been shown in an exhibition, for €50 million ($56 million) including buyer fees at its Paris auction on Thursday. The price is the highest ever paid in France for an artwork of any kind, according to Bloomberg.

The result topped the €22 million to €30 million estimate Sotheby's had set. The buyer, according to Bloomberg, is an Asia-based individual collector. The Schlumberger $SLB heirs consigned the work, according to Bloomberg.

The previous auction record for a Monet Iris was £10.8 million ($17.1 million at the time), set at Christie's in London in 2015, according to Bloomberg. The highest price for any Monet is $110.7 million, paid for "Meules" at Sotheby's in New York in 2019, according to Bloomberg.

Jeanne Schlumberger, the collector who owned the painting, did not lend her paintings to exhibitions, Sotheby's said in its catalogue for the collection. The company said "Iris" and "Saule pleureur" remain unvarnished, unlined and untouched. Sotheby's said she acquired Monet's late-period works, including "Iris," with the help of the Paris dealer Katia Granoff after the two met in the 1950s.

Schlumberger was the wife of Marcel Schlumberger, who founded the first company of what became the Schlumberger group, now SLB, with his brother Conrad in 1926, Sotheby's said. The group is now based in Houston.

Thomas Bompard, co-head of modern and contemporary art at Sotheby's France, oversaw the auction. He told reporters last month that Schlumberger's refusal to lend the painting helped keep it in a "miraculous" state, according to Bloomberg. Bompard said Schlumberger responded to the modern, abstract side of Monet's late works more than to the Impressionist brushwork he is best known for, according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg said the painting dates from 1924 to 1925 and was made at Monet's home in Giverny, near Paris. The sale took place during the centenary of Monet's death, which is being observed with exhibitions including one at the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris, according to Bloomberg.