Monet’s iconic Meules painting returns to auction for the first time in 33 years with a $55MILLION price tag

• Claude Monet’s Meules (1890), one of the artist’s classic haystacks, with estimate of over $55 million will go on the auction block in May
• Monet made 25 paintings of haystacks – only eight remain in private collections
• The sale also includes works by Pierre Bonnard, Camille Pissarro, Édouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Signac, Alfred Sisley, and Édouard Vuillard

An iconic painting by Claude Monet – his 1890 work Meules – is set to sell for at least $55million when it is auctioned in May.

Meules is one of 25 canvases in his iconic Haystacks series and is being sold by Sotheby’s as part of larger auction showcasing a collection of impressionist and modern art.

Meules, painted by Monet at his creative peak, is one of only eight in the series that remains in private hands. 

Meules is one of 25 canvases in his iconic Haystacks series and is being sold by Sotheby’s as part of larger auction showcasing a collection of impressionist and modern art

Meules, was painted by Monet, (pictured in this self-portrait) at his creative peak. It is one of only eight in the series that remains in private hands.

The other 17 examples are in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

The painting had been acquired directly from Monet’s art dealer in the 1890s by Bertha and Potter Palmer who were wealthy Chicago philanthropists and art patrons.

Bertha Palmer owned almost 90 Monets during her life, many of which she sold however Meules remained in the private collection until her death in 1918 and remained with her descendants for generations. 

The current owner who has decided to remain anonymous, purchased the painting at an auction for $2.53 million in 1986.      

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The painting will be auctioned at Sotheby’s May Impressionist and modern art evening sale in New York in May

‘Meules stands as a textbook example of impressionism,’ says August Uribe, head of Sotheby’s impressionist and modern art department in New York. ‘The painting’s exploration of impressionist subject, texture, color, and light, is truly revolutionary.’ 

The sale of the collection also includes seven other impressionist and modern works by Pierre Bonnard, Camille Pissarro, Édouard Manet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Signac, Alfred Sisley, and Édouard Vuillard.

A portion of the proceeds will be given to two world-renowned, not-for-profit institutions in the fields of science and music. The organizations’ names have not been revealed.

Monets water lilies sold for $54 million during an auction at Sotheby’s in New York in 2015

THE TOP FIVE MONEYED MONET’S  

An oil painting by impressionist master Claude Monet is expected to be star of the spring auction season in New York, where Sotheby’s believes it could fetch as much as $55 million. Yet, other paintings by Monet’s have sold for more…

1. NYMPHÉAS EN FLEUR (WATER LILIES IN BLOOM), 1914-1917  – $84.7Million

Sold via Christie’s New York on May 8th, 2018  

Claude Monet’s Nymphéas en fleur (1914–17) sold in 2018 for $84.7 million setting a new record for the Impressionist

2. MEULE (GRAINSTACK), 1890-1891 – $81.4Million

Sold via Christie’s New York in November 2017  

3. LE BASSIN AUX NYMPHÉAS (WATER LILY POND), 1919

$80.5 MILLION, Sold via Christie’s London in June, 2008

4. NYMPHÉAS (WATER LILIES), 1906

$54 MILLION, Sold via Sotheby’s London in June, 2014

5. NYMPHÉAS (WATER LILIES), 1905

$43.8 MILLION, Sold via Christie’s New York in November 2012

Nymphéas (Water Lilies) sold at Christies in New York in 2012 for $43.8million

A little over two years ago, another haystack work once owned by the Potters, Meuele (1891), went for $81.4 million at Christie’s New York. 

The record for a Monet at auction is currently $84.7 million, which was set for Nymphéas en fleur (ca. 1914–17) last year at the Peggy and David Rockefeller Collection evening sale at Christie’s in New York.

Brooke Lampley, vice chairman of Sotheby’s fine art division, said in a release: ‘It is a thrill to be offering a Meule that is not only distinguished among those remaining in private hands, but also easily ranks among the best in the entire series.’

In recent years, prices for works by Monet or other celebrated Impressionists have shot through the roof. 

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