Monet’s Les Meules Sold for Record $110.7 Million at Auction
In 1890, Claude Monet painted 25 oil on canvas works of Meules (Haystacks) of harvested wheat belonging to his neighbor in Giverny, France. Most are hanging in museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. However, one of the few held privately sold yesterday at Sotheby’s for $110.7 million, which doubled its estimated value and established a record for an Impressionist painting. It's also the most ever paid at auction for a painting by Monet, the founder of French Impressionism.
Monet's previous record was $84.7 million, for Nymphéas en fleur [Water Lilies] that sold at Christie’s last year.
Les Meules was last sold at auction in 1986 for $2.5 million. Sotheby's did not name the new owner.

Monet’s Les Meules, 1890, photo credit: Sotheby’s

Monet, Nymphéas en fleur (ca. 1914–17), photo credit: Christie’s