Five Claude Monet paintings go to auction at Sotheby’s in London for estimated £70m
Five paintings by Claude Monet will go to auction at Sotheby's in London today, with bidders expected to fork out as much as £70m.
"Le Grand Canal" is the star of the show – expected to fetch between £20m and £30m – having hung in the national gallery for the past eight years. It was painted during a three-month trip to Venice in 1908, with works from this period representing "the peak of Monet's career."
“Les Peupliers a Giverny” should go for between £9m and £12m.
"The painting marks a highpoint in Monet's mastery of the evanescent impressions of light and colour that had been his preoccupation over the previous two decades," Sotheby's said.
“L’Embarcadere,”, which was painted by Monet in Zaandam, Holland during the summer of 1871, has a price tag of around £7.5m – £10m. It's one of a series of 25 pictures which explore areas surrounding Zaandam.
Two other paintings by Monet – "Antibes vue de la Salis" and "Vase de pivoines" – should go for between £5m – £7m and £1.2m – 1.8m respectively.
The impressionist art market suffered following the global financial crisis, but it has recovered recently, and Sotheby's enjoyed a jump in sales last year.
"In 2014 we saw the growth of more than 20 per cent in sales of impressionist and modern art at Sotheby's, marketing our fourth consecutive year as a global leader in this field," Helena Newman, co-head of impressionist and modern art worldwide at Sotheby's, said.
"This reflects the strength of the market and the wealth of extraordinary Impressionist and Modern works that we have sourced," she said.