Readers like you keep news free for everyone.
More than 5,000 readers have already pitched in to keep free access to The Journal.
For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can help keep paywalls away.
Lewis Whyld/PA Archive/Press Association Images
# well holy god
Monet painting sells for a whopping €34.4 million at NY auction
The 1905 painting of mint-green lily pads was the biggest single seller at the Christie’s auction.
ONE OF CLAUDE Monet’s water lily paintings sold for almost €34.4 million at a Christie’s auction in New York city yesterday.
Monet’s oil on canvas ‘Nympheas’ was the biggest single seller at the auction, hitting the high end of the €23-€39 million estimate.
The 1905 painting of mint-green lily pads on top of a periwinkle pool was bought by an anonymous American collector.
A painting by Wassily Kandinsky sold for €18 million, setting an auction record for the Russian avant-garde artist. The oil painting ‘Studie fur improvisation 8’ was a highlight of the big evening sale of impressionist and modern works at Christie’s auction house in Manhattan.
Alberto Giacometti’s ‘La Jambe’, a single skinny bronze leg, sold for€8.8 million, at the low end of the estimate.
Among the night’s losers was the bronze sculpture ‘Coq’ by Picasso, which had a pre-sale estimate of €7.8 – 11.7 million but did not sell.
This is what the Monet that sold for almost €34.4 million looks like:
Image: Lewis Whyld/PA Archive/Press Association Images
Would you pay €34.4 million for it?
Poll Results:
No, it seems ridiculous to spend that kind of money on a painting (439)
I am not sure, I would have to think about it (350)
Yes, if I had that kind of money I would (147)
Additional reporting © AFP, 2012
