Sotheby's To Offer Two Monets, One A Water Lily, For Up To $67 M.

Sotheby's London will bring two Claude Monet paintings (1840–1926) to market on June 24, pairing one of the artist's celebrated water-lily canvases with an early portrait of his wife, Camille. Both works have recently passed through prominent collections, and both arrive with estimates that place them among the more closely watched lots of the season.

“Nymphéas” (1907) is estimated at £30 million to £40 million, or about $40 million to $53.5 million. The nearly nine-foot-high canvas was once in the collection of Anne Bass and sold at Christie's New York in 2022 for $56.5 million, a figure that exceeded its current estimate. Sotheby's says the painting belongs to Monet's peak years for the square and near-square water-lily format, when he increasingly dissolved the bank of the pond and turned the surface into a field of reflection, color, and atmosphere.

Helena Newman, chairman of Sotheby's Europe and chairman of Impressionist and modern art worldwide, described the work as moving toward abstraction while retaining a rich, varied palette. The painting has been publicly exhibited only twice: in Paris in 1909 at Durand-Ruel Galerie and in New York in 2010. At the 1909 presentation, writer Jean-Louis Vaudoyer observed that painting seemed to approach music and poetry.

The second work,“Camille assise sur la plage à Trouville” (1870–71), is estimated at £7 million to £10 million, or about $9.4 million to $13.4 million. It passed through the collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller and sold at Christie's in 2018 for $12.1 million. Sotheby's says the painting has never been exhibited or offered for sale in the UK, and that only one other painting of Monet's wife has ever appeared at auction.

Newman called the canvas museum-worthy, noting that related depictions of Camille on the same beach are held by the Musée Marmottan in Paris, the National Gallery in London, and the Yale University Art Gallery. She also pointed out that the picture dates to just before“Impression: Sunrise” (1874), placing it at a moment when Monet was moving toward the language that would define Impressionism.

The sale also underscores the depth of demand for Monet at the top end of the market. His auction record stands at $110.7 million for“Meules” (1891), sold by Sotheby's New York in 2019. Another water-lily painting,“Nymphéas en fleur” (ca. 1914–1917), brought $84.7 million at Christie's New York in 2018. Since 2008, 14 Monet canvases have sold for more than $50 million at auction, and nine of them depict water lilies.

For Sotheby's, the consignment of two works spanning such different moments in Monet's career is more than a strong sale lineup. It is also a reminder that, in the right market, the artist's most familiar motifs still carry exceptional force.

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