Monet Makes World of Difference at Sotheby’s Paris

Sotheby’s Paris sales last week were boosted by two Monets with strings attached. Long unseen in public, the landscapes painted on the banks of the Seine early and late in his career accounted for more than a third of the auction house’s total sales of $54.4 million.

Vétheuil, effet du matin (1901) sold for $12.01m and Les Îles de Port-Villez (1883) fetched $7.6m, both with fees, leading the evening sale on April 16 and providing a talking point.

The Monet effect helped Sotheby’s evening on April 16 and the following day’s sale of modern and contemporary art score a B- on the HENI Auction Index, an improvement on its most recent comparable sale, which scored a C.

The score is based on more than ten metrics, including the total number of lots on offer. The 157 lots consigned was more than double Sotheby’s most recent comparable sale in Paris but still more than 28% down on the historic average.

The total sales value matched the historic average but was down 48% compared with its most recent sales in Paris.

The percentage of works selling above their high estimate, such as the 1883 Monet landscape, was 2 percentage points below average. The share of works selling above their low estimate was also down, this time by almost 4 percentage points.

There were 12 works with guarantees. The percentage of lots with strong guarantees was in line with the average, while the share with weak guarantees was more than 2 percentage points below the norm.

Around 9% of lots were bought in, which is 7.8 percentage points below the average. The less than 2 percent of lots withdrawn was another positive metric and 0.5 percentage points below the norm.

It took a 10-minute bidding battle before Monet’s Vétheuil, effet du matin sold. While its previous owner kept the painting under wraps in France, its new owner will be sharing it internationally.

After almost a century out of sight, the painting is stepping back into the spotlight—heading to Germany in 2027 for a planned exhibition, then to Tokyo’s National Center and Osaka’s Nakanoshima Museum of Art in 2029. His 1883 painting of the Seine is also due to travel to the shows in Japan.

Methodology: for how the HENI Auction Index classifies sales, see here.