A painting from Claude Monet's acclaimed "Haystacks" series has sold for a record $110.7 million (about €98 million) at a Sotheby's auction in New York.
The auction house said the sale of the painting titled "Meules" was a world auction record for Monet, who was known for his landscape paintings. It is also the first work of Impressionist art to cross the $100-million threshold at auction.
Seven bidders fought it out over eight minutes for "Meules" before reaching the final price.
Read more: Claude Monet, a master of color, light and shadow
A rare find
The oil on canvas was completed in 1890 and is one of only four works from the "Haystacks" series to be auctioned this century. It is one of only eight examples belonging to private owners.
The 17 others belong to museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago.
The "Haystacks" series depicts stacks of harvested wheat belonging to Monet's neighbor in Giverny, in France's Normandy region.
The works are widely celebrated for capturing the play of light on his subject and for their influence on the Impressionist movement.
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Claude Monet, a precursor of modernity
A cottage on a rock
Like many other of Claude Monet's works, this 1882 painting depicting a cottage is dominated by water. The sea is rough, and the wind blows through the bushes surrounding the modest hut. The colors are earthy and heavy. But Monet's brush works quickly, eternalizing a fleeting moment in nature.
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Claude Monet, a precursor of modernity
The master in a bowler hat
Claude Monet, born on November 14, 1840, in Paris, already started at an early age to work with light and color. Concrete themes increasingly lost importance giving way to abstract images. He got together with other artists and set up his brush and easel in open spaces. In 1865, he was permitted to show his first painting in the Salon de Paris, which was a great honor.
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Claude Monet, a precursor of modernity
Love for the Mediterranean landscape
In the 19th century, Bordighera in Liguria was highly poular among artists. Like many others, Claude Monet traveled to the town on the Italian Mediterranean in 1884 to spend three months there. "One would need a palette of diamonds and jewels. As far as blue and pink go - they exist here," he wrote about his stay, during which he created numerous paintings, among them "Vue de Bordighera" (1884).
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Claude Monet, a precursor of modernity
As the sun sets on the Seine
In this painting ("Sunset on the Seine in Winter") the light above the River Seine slowly vanishes and the sun appears as a tiny orange ball on the horizon. The weather and its effects on nature is a prominent theme of Monet's. Over and over again, he studied the changes of light on plants and water. The reflections of a sunset on the Seine bring about a romantic atmosphere.
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Claude Monet, a precursor of modernity
Double take
Monet's stepdaughters Germaine, Suzanne und Blanche are seen fishing on a glassy lake. Due to the wood it was made from, their boat was called a "norvégienne" - which also lent the painting its title, "In the Norvégienne." The borders between colors and motives blend, and the foreground and background vanish into each other. The painting was praised for its tranquillity and beauty.
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Claude Monet, a precursor of modernity
Fog on the Thames
Monet creates magical landscapes that depict motives like flowery meadows, haystacks, cathedrals and bridges in the mist - like here where the Charing Cross Bridge crosses the River Thames in London. Monet wanted to eternalize his own feelings during a given moment in his work. The location itself seems to disintegrate.
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Claude Monet, a precursor of modernity
Sunset over London's Houses of Parliament
Monet painted the Houses of Parliament Westminster while sitting on the terrace of St. Thomas' Hospital in London. By depicting the changing light and the fog, he conveyed a mysterious aura on the imposing structure. Once again, the river and the fog are conveyed as a blurred shadow of color.
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Claude Monet, a precursor of modernity
An island in violet light
Here, the motif vanishes altogether. The borders between trees, clouds and their reflection in the water are no longer discernible. Monet painted this view of the Seine island Orties in Giverny in 1897. That's where he owned an estate with the famous pond covered with lilies. He rowed to the middle of the Seine where he worked on up to 14 canvasses at once, studying the different times of the day.
Author: Sabine Oelze (ad)
Sellers paid just $2.53M
Sotheby's said the painting was acquired by wealthy Chicago socialites directly from Monet's dealer in the 1890s and remained in the family until it was bought at auction in 1986 by the present sellers for $2.53 million.
Sotheby's did not provide any details on the new buyer.
The sale of 55 Impressionist and modern artworks at Sotheby's brought in just under $350 million, with the second-highest selling item, a painting by Pablo Picasso, selling for $20.7 million.
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Monet and the impressionists
Springboard "Salon de Paris"
Until 1874 French artists only had one way to present their art to a wide audience: by submitting works to the "Salon de Paris." A jury would then decide which pieces were approved, and which weren't. After having their work continually rejected, a group of 30 artists - including Renoir, Monet, Cézanne and Sisley - broke away and organized their own exhibition.
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Monet and the impressionists
Paris, the art metropolis
The group organized eight independent exhibitions up to 1886, where many artworks were sold. The young artists hoped to free themselves and their work from France's state-controlled art market. The exhibitions were major events in the rapidly-changing metropolis of Paris, then the center of the art world.
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Monet and the impressionists
Back to nature
The impressionists were landscape painters. To transfer their impressions as true as possible to canvas and to exactly replicate natural light conditions, they painted directly in nature. One popular spot and motif for these young painters - including Claude Monet - was Fontainebleau forest, south of Paris.
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Monet and the impressionists
Light and color
The artists developed an entirely new understanding and concept of art. In a departure from classicism, they treated color and light with greater importance than line and symmetry. In his painting "The Peach Glass" from 1866, Monet explores the various effects of fruit: in a glass jar, on a marble tabletop and in the reflection.
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Monet and the impressionists
Role model Manet
Although Édouard Manet's works were never included in the popular impressionist exhibitions, his influence on the artists - especially on Monet - is indisputable. Manet befriended the impressionists but didn't include himself in their ranks. Eight years older than Monet, he created a number of motifs that the younger artist used as models.
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Monet and the impressionists
Scandalous picture
Considered the young Monet's most significant work, "The Luncheon" was a scandal. It was more than two meters high, a format traditionally reserved for historical painting. And it depicted an everyday scene that included Monet's girlfriend Camille and their illegitimate son - an unapologetic affront in the bourgeois France of 1869.
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Monet and the impressionists
New motifs
At first glance, smoke is the only thing one can discern here. Monet's "Saint-Lazare Station" shows industrial change in the 19th century. Rather than using mythological or religious motifs, impressionists sourced their subjects from their immediate environment. Their motifs center on nature and everyday life.
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Monet and the impressionists
Joie de vivre àl la Renoir
Not all impressionist painters focused exclusively on landscapes or the industrial revolution in big cities. Auguste Renoir's paintings showed life in high society and the privileged existence of the upper class: ladies in orchestra pits and theater boxes, or - here - simply strolling gracefully with an umbrella in the garden.
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Monet and the impressionists
Mood over matter
The importance of the subject diminishes further with Monet over the years - instead he emphasizes the atmosphere of a particular scene. The Saint-Lazare train station seems to almost disappear in this painting of 1877. Instead, fog and smoke red and blue hues dominate Monet's impression of the station building.
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Monet and the impressionists
Paris in Frankfurt
The Städel Museum was the first in Germany to purchase French impressionist art and has built up an impressive collection since 1899. The current exhibition displays around 100 works from museums around the world, including Pissaro's "Rue de Gisors." The exhibition runs until June 21, 2015.
Author: Hennig, Hans Joachim / jt
law/cmk (AP, dpa, Reuters)
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