Monet’s ‘Haystacks’ sells for $110.7M, setting an auction record

A painting from Claude Monet’s “Haystacks” series has sold for $110.7 million, making it the most expensive Impressionist artwork ever to be bought at auction, according to Sotheby’s in New York.

It took six bidders just eight minutes to reach a record-breaking sum for the oil painting, which went to an anonymous bidder Tuesday.

The 1890 painting is widely regarded as the best of Monet’s “Meules” (Haystacks) series, the auction house said. Only four artworks from the 25-strong series have appeared at auction this century, and just eight remain in private hands.

The painting becomes the ninth most expensive ever to sell at auction.

“One of the most recognizable images in art history, Monet’s ‘Haystacks’ series has long served as an inspiration to countless artists since its creation in the early 1890s,” said the auction house’s head of Impressionist and modern art, August Uribe, in a press release.

While the hammer price – the highest bid – came in just under $100 million, the addition of a buyer’s premium – the fee charged by auction houses – took the final price to $110.7 million.

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The painting’s previous owner paid the relatively small sum of $2.5 million for the artwork in 1986, 44 times lower than Tuesday’s sale price.

It is now the ninth most expensive painting ever to be sold at auction, a list currently topped by Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi,” which went for $450 million at Christie’s in New York in 2017.

A painting from Claude Monet's "Haystacks" series sold for $110.7 million in May 2019, making it the most expensive Impressionist artwork ever to be bought at auction.

David Hockney's "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)" set a new auction record for a living artist when it sold for $90.3 million in November 2018. That figure has since been overtaken by Jeff Koons' 1986 "Rabbit" sculpture, which sold for more than $91 million.

Zao Wou-Ki's abstract painting "Juin-Octobre 1985" has become the most expensive painting to ever sell at auction in Hong Kong.

Pablo Picasso, Les femmes d'Alger (Version 'O'), (1955). Oil on canvas -- Price Realized: $179,365,000 —

Pablo Picasso's Les femmes d'Alger previously held the auction record after selling for $179.4 million in 2015.

Edvard Munch, The Scream, (1895). Pastel on board in the original frame -- Price realized: $119,922,500 —

The sale of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" to billionaire Leon Black for $119.9 million in 2012 marked more than a new art record: it was the first time that a pastel, rather than an oil or acrylic painting, came anywhere near achieving such a price.

Gerhard Richter, Abstraktes Bild, (1994). Oil on canvas -- Price realized: $34,190,757 —

Rock star Eric Clapton sold his "Abstraktse Bild" by art star Gerhard Richter in 2012 for £21.3 million, establishing a new record for a living artist and the highest price ever paid for a Gerhard Richter painting.

Vincent van Gogh, Portrait of Dr. Gachet, (1890). Oil on canvas -- Price Realized: $82,500,000 —

Vincent van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" rocked the art world in 1990 when it sold to Tokyo's Kobayashi gallery for $82.5 million at Christie's -- more than twice the previous auction record.

Pablo Picasso, Garçon a la Pipe, (1905). Oil on canvas -- Price Realized: $104,168,000 —

Pablo Picasso's "Garçon a la Pipe" broke the $100 million ceiling when it sold at Sotheby's for over $104 million in May, 2004 -- the first painting to exceed the record set in 1990 for the "Dr.Gachet."

Lucian Freud, Benefits Supervisor Resting, (1994). Oil on canvas -- Price Realized: $56,165,000 —

The portrait of the ample-bodied Sue Tilley, a British government worker, was one of four such paintings the British artist produced of the woman he called "Fat Sue." The portrait achieved a record for the artist when it sold at Christie's New York in May, 2015.

Amedeo Modigliani, Nu couché, (1917-1918). Oil on canvas -- Price Realized: $170,405,000 —

Appetite for Modigliani's work had already been on the rise when this rare nude came up for sale. It set a new record for the artist -- and one of the highest prices ever set at auction -- when it sold at Christie's in November, 2015 to a Chinese billionaire bidding by telephone.

Record-breaking art sales

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Pablo Picasso’s “Les femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’)” held the previous auction record, having sold for $179.4 million in 2015. And the sale of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” for $119.9 million in 2012 marked more than a new art record at the time: It was the first time that a work in pastels, rather than oil or acrylic, had come close to achieving such a price.