GALLERIES & MUSEUMS: Monet’s Grainstack sells for $81,447,500

New York – On November 16th, Claude Monet’s Meule (Grainstack)realized $81,447,500 / £65,210,168 / €75,774,215 at Christie’s New York and achieved a world auction record for the artist.  Painted in 1891, this important painting is recognized as one of finest examples of Monet’s Grainstack series. Meule was ultimately sold to an anonymous client on the phone with Margot Rosenberg, Senior Director, Client Advisory, after 14 minutes bidding battle involving 4 different Christie’s specialists and a client in the room. The sale’s auctioneer was Andreas Rumbler, Christie’s Deputy Chairman.

When describing the painting, Brooke Lampley, Christie’s Head of Impressionist and Modern Art, New York, said: “Monet’s Grainstack is the culmination of 25 canvases painted of the same subject in varying light and weather conditions over many months between 1890 and 1891. The precursor to other serial subjects that would come to fruition in the renowned Water Lilies paintings that Monet devoted himself to at the end of his life. It’s these works that elevate Monet beyond consummate Impressionist landscape painter, to radical innovator of the 20th Century abstraction.” History of Claude Monet

A majority of the Grainstacks series are housed in major art museums around the world, including the Musée d’Orsay, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Gallery of Scotland, while few are held in private collections.

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