LONDON, Feb 9 — Claude Monet is one of the sure values of the art market. Sotheby’s is guaranteed to cause a sensation when it offers a painting from his Water Lilies series during its next "Modern & Contemporary” evening sale. This painting has not appeared at auction for four decades.

The painting for sale at Sotheby’s was painted between 1914 and 1917 in his garden in Giverny. Although Monet showed an interest in gardens from his youth, his fascination with horticulture reached new heights after he moved to the town in Normandy. He had a bucolic water garden built there, with a pond covered with water lilies. "I am only good at two things, and those are: gardening and painting. My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece,” he once said.

Monet produced more than 250 versions of this landscape for his Water Lilies series — not counting those that the painter destroyed. One of them will go under the hammer on March 2 during Sotheby’s "Modern & Contemporary” evening sale in London. A first since it entered the private collection of an Asian art lover in 1978.

Monet vs Picasso

This variation of Monet’s Water Lilies is estimated at £15-20 million (RM84-112 million). This is a far cry from the US$110.7 million (RM463 million) for which a painting from his Meules series was sold in 2019 at Sotheby’s in New York. This is a record for the Impressionist painter at auction, with an amount among the ten highest ever achieved at auction.

Monet will have some competition during Sotheby’s upcoming "Modern & Contemporary” evening sale. On this occasion, collectors will also be able to try to get their hands on Buste de femme accoudée by Picasso.

This canvas, painted in shades of gray, evokes two of his muses, Marie-Thérèse Walter and Dora Maar. It will appear on the market for the first time since its creation in 1938, with an estimate of between £10 and £15 million. — ETX Studio