Monet’s Monumental ‘Iris’ Sells for €50 Million at Sotheby’s Paris

On 22 October 2026, Sotheby’s Paris auctioned Claude Monet’s monumental painting ‘Iris’ for €50 million, including fees, which is approximately $56 million. This sale made ‘Iris’ the most expensive work by Monet sold in France. The painting is the largest in Monet’s celebrated Iris series and came from the collection of Jeanne Schlumberger, an heir to the Schlumberger oil company.

The winning bid for ‘Iris’ was placed by a client on the phone, represented by Jen Hua, the deputy chairman of Sotheby’s Asia. The auction featured a total of 27 works from the Schlumberger collection, including three additional paintings by Monet. All works from the collection were sold, and three-quarters of them achieved prices above their high estimates.

The total proceeds from the Sotheby’s Paris auction reached €74.4 million ($83.7 million) with fees, significantly exceeding the pre-sale estimate of €40 million. The pre-sale estimates were calculated without fees. Among the Monet works offered was ‘Saule Pleureur’ (Weeping Willow), which was valued between €9 million and €12 million.

Three paintings by Paul Cézanne, which had been classified as national treasures, were withdrawn from the sale a few hours before the auction began. According to Sotheby’s, this was done with a view to their return to Cézanne’s hometown, Aix-en-Provence.

In a separate event, Christie’s Paris held an auction on 23 October 2026, selling 26 works. Among these were two Monet paintings: ‘Bord des falaises à Pourville’, which sold for €12.7 million, and ‘Trois pots de tulipes’, which sold for €3.1 million.

Other notable sales at the Christie’s auction included Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s ‘Jeunes filles au bord de la mer’, which fetched €5.8 million, and Pablo Picasso’s ‘Nature morte au gruyere’, which sold for €3 million. The total amount for Christie’s sale was €41.6 million, including buyer fees.

These auctions in Paris featured significant works by Monet and other renowned artists, with strong results for both Sotheby’s and Christie’s. The sales included important pieces from private collections and saw several works achieve prices above their estimates, reflecting robust demand in the art market at that time.