Monet painting fetches $74 mn at auction in New York
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 03: 'Le Bassin aux nymphéas' by Claude Monet is on display during Sotheby's NY press preview of the upcoming Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale at Sotheby's on 03 May 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)
A painting of water lilies by French impressionist Claude Monet has sold for $74 million, as part of a lively fall art auction season.
"Le bassin aux nympheas" topped the projected sale price of $65 million when it went under the hammer at Christie's auction house in New York on Thursday night.
Other notable sales included 20th century expressionist painter Richard Diebenkorn's "Recollections of a Visit to Leningrad" which sold for $46 million, while fellow American Joan Mitchell's "Untitled" went for $29 million.
Three paintings by Paul Cezanne were sold, including "Fruits et pot de gingembre" for nearly $39 million.
On Wednesday, Pablo Picasso's "Woman with a Watch," fetched $139.3 million, the second-highest price ever achieved for the artist.
"Femme a la montre," the 1932 painting depicting one of the Spanish artist's companions and muses, French painter Marie-Therese Walter, had been valued at over $120 million before going on the block at Sotheby's.
The fall auction season, which started Tuesday and ends next Wednesday, has so far seen $748 million in sales at Christie's and more than $400 million at Sotheby's.
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