Claude MONET (1840-1926)
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : France Series by Monet London and Venice Bassin aux nymphéas Landscape Venice Cities
Chronology : 19th century 1890-1899 1890 1891 1900-1909 1903 1907 1908 1910-1919 1914 1919
See also List of paintings by Claude Monet in Wikipedia, not including the Water Lilies
See also : France Series by Monet London and Venice Bassin aux nymphéas Landscape Venice Cities
Chronology : 19th century 1890-1899 1890 1891 1900-1909 1903 1907 1908 1910-1919 1914 1919
See also List of paintings by Claude Monet in Wikipedia, not including the Water Lilies
Masterpiece
1872 Impression Soleil Levant
Musée Marmottan
Claude Monet was not a theorist. He progressed by releasing his emotion. The Impression soleil levant painted in 1872 fades within the fog the real features of the view. This painting is a burst of intuition and is described in the history of art as the cornerstone of Impressionnisme.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Asking Grok the signification in art history.
Grok thought :
Claude Monet's Impression, Soleil Levant (translated as Impression, Sunrise), painted in 1872, is an oil on canvas work depicting a hazy sunrise over the harbor of Le Havre, France, with loose brushstrokes capturing the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere. This painting holds profound significance in art history as the catalyst that named and defined the Impressionist movement. Exhibited in 1874 at the first independent show by a group of avant-garde artists in Paris (including Monet, Renoir, Degas, and others), it drew mockery from critic Louis Leroy, who coined the term "Impressionists" in a satirical review, deriding the work's sketch-like quality and unfinished appearance as mere "impressions" rather than polished art. The artists embraced the label, turning it into a banner for their revolutionary approach, which rejected academic traditions in favor of plein air painting, vibrant color over line, and modern everyday scenes. As such, the painting symbolizes the shift from Realism and Romanticism toward modernism, influencing subsequent movements like Post-Impressionism and Fauvism by prioritizing subjective perception and optical effects. It has been housed at the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris since 1940, where it remains a cornerstone of the museum's Impressionist collection.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Asking Grok the signification in art history.
Grok thought :
Claude Monet's Impression, Soleil Levant (translated as Impression, Sunrise), painted in 1872, is an oil on canvas work depicting a hazy sunrise over the harbor of Le Havre, France, with loose brushstrokes capturing the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere. This painting holds profound significance in art history as the catalyst that named and defined the Impressionist movement. Exhibited in 1874 at the first independent show by a group of avant-garde artists in Paris (including Monet, Renoir, Degas, and others), it drew mockery from critic Louis Leroy, who coined the term "Impressionists" in a satirical review, deriding the work's sketch-like quality and unfinished appearance as mere "impressions" rather than polished art. The artists embraced the label, turning it into a banner for their revolutionary approach, which rejected academic traditions in favor of plein air painting, vibrant color over line, and modern everyday scenes. As such, the painting symbolizes the shift from Realism and Romanticism toward modernism, influencing subsequent movements like Post-Impressionism and Fauvism by prioritizing subjective perception and optical effects. It has been housed at the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris since 1940, where it remains a cornerstone of the museum's Impressionist collection.
Meules
Intro
After the Impression Soleil Levant it took nearly two decades for Monet to jump to a still more decisive step, with the Meules.
He had been very active throughout that period. His paintings of the Gare St Lazare in 1877 constituted a series that displayed the variations in color depending on the intensity of sunlight and on the thickness of smoke from the trains. His solitary travel in Normandy in 1882 for comforting after the death of Camille is very important : Monet demonstrates to himself that lighting is better than topography for expressing a mood.
He had been very active throughout that period. His paintings of the Gare St Lazare in 1877 constituted a series that displayed the variations in color depending on the intensity of sunlight and on the thickness of smoke from the trains. His solitary travel in Normandy in 1882 for comforting after the death of Camille is very important : Monet demonstrates to himself that lighting is better than topography for expressing a mood.
1
1890 W1273 Meules
2019 SOLD for $ 110M by Sotheby's
Every year the grain stacks will remain alone in the middle of the fields as temporary semaphores that break until the wheat threshing of the spring the monotonous ground devoid of its plants by winter. They will be the suitable support for Monet to perform his observations of colors through all weather conditions and at all moments of time.
Monet loves this theme that is typical of country life without the need to add humans or birds. He begins at the end of summer 1890 with five landscapes in which two haystacks are distant from each other.
According to the sequence established by Wildenstein, the next sub-series is composed of two oil paintings on canvas 73 x 93 cm executed during the autumn of 1890. The alignment of two haystacks leads to the tall trees on the horizon, against the light in the last rays of sunset. For the first time the rest of the image is minimized. The predominance of the expression of colors over theme and form opens the way to modern art.
The second of these pictures, W1273, goes even further by managing to avoid the shadows of the two stacks. All that remains is the light that plays with the contours of stacks and trees and reveals the shimmering colors of the field. It was dated 1891 by the artist, certainly by reference to the year of the first public exhibition of the series, in the gallery of Durand-Ruel.
W1273 was sold for $ 110M from a lower estimate of $ 55M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2019, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys May 15, 2019
#AuctionUpdate: New world auction record for Claude Monet and for any work of Impressionist Art. An undisputed masterpiece from his acclaimed Haystacks Series, ‘Meules’ from 1890, sells for $110.7 million at Sotheby’s New York.
Monet loves this theme that is typical of country life without the need to add humans or birds. He begins at the end of summer 1890 with five landscapes in which two haystacks are distant from each other.
According to the sequence established by Wildenstein, the next sub-series is composed of two oil paintings on canvas 73 x 93 cm executed during the autumn of 1890. The alignment of two haystacks leads to the tall trees on the horizon, against the light in the last rays of sunset. For the first time the rest of the image is minimized. The predominance of the expression of colors over theme and form opens the way to modern art.
The second of these pictures, W1273, goes even further by managing to avoid the shadows of the two stacks. All that remains is the light that plays with the contours of stacks and trees and reveals the shimmering colors of the field. It was dated 1891 by the artist, certainly by reference to the year of the first public exhibition of the series, in the gallery of Durand-Ruel.
W1273 was sold for $ 110M from a lower estimate of $ 55M by Sotheby's on May 14, 2019, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys May 15, 2019
#AuctionUpdate: New world auction record for Claude Monet and for any work of Impressionist Art. An undisputed masterpiece from his acclaimed Haystacks Series, ‘Meules’ from 1890, sells for $110.7 million at Sotheby’s New York.
- The painting "Meules" by Claude Monet, sold for $110.7 million in 2019, set a record for Impressionist art, reflecting its rarity as one of 25 canvases in the Haystacks series, painted between 1890-1891 to capture shifting light and weather, a technique later studied for its psychological impact on perception (e.g., a 2015 study in Perception linked such art to enhanced emotional recognition).
- This auction marked the first time "Meules" appeared at sale since 1986, with its price soaring 44 times higher, hinting at a speculative art market bubble, a trend critiqued in a 2021 Journal of Cultural Economics analysis showing wealth concentration drives such spikes rather than artistic merit.
- The sale occurred amid global economic disparity, with critics noting the $110.7 million could fund healthcare for thousands, aligning with 2019 World Bank data indicating 700 million people lived on less than $2 daily, sparking debates on art's cultural versus social value.
2
1891 W1290 Meule
2016 SOLD for $ 81M by Christie's
The deep nature of a landscape can no longer be expressed by a single snapshot. In this series which ends in January 1891 and totals 25 paintings, Monet has captured 25 moments of light of a wide variety : morning, evening, full sun, snow, mist. In the last pictures the color also comes to sublimate the perspective with the reduction of the theme to a single haystack..
Three of them have been specifically grouped as a ultimate achievement of the Meules in the catalogue raisonné prepared by Daniel Wildenstein. Only one stack is visible in front of a retracted landscape. It is truncated either from top or from one side. The color emotion is not challenged by that figurative feature reduced to nothing more than a bulky triangle. In 1896, in front of one of these paintings, Kandinsky was dazzled.
Another Meule from that group of three, oil on canvas 73 x 92 cm painted in 1891, reference Wildenstein 1290 pictured at sunset, was sold for $ 12M by Sotheby's on May 11 1999 and for $ 81M by Christie's on November 16, 2016, lot 9 B. Please watch the video shared by Christie's. The image below is shared by Wikimedia.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Nov 17, 2016
#AuctionRecord: Claude Monet's "Meule" just sold for a staggering $81,447,500, setting a new auction record for the artist #Monet
Three of them have been specifically grouped as a ultimate achievement of the Meules in the catalogue raisonné prepared by Daniel Wildenstein. Only one stack is visible in front of a retracted landscape. It is truncated either from top or from one side. The color emotion is not challenged by that figurative feature reduced to nothing more than a bulky triangle. In 1896, in front of one of these paintings, Kandinsky was dazzled.
Another Meule from that group of three, oil on canvas 73 x 92 cm painted in 1891, reference Wildenstein 1290 pictured at sunset, was sold for $ 12M by Sotheby's on May 11 1999 and for $ 81M by Christie's on November 16, 2016, lot 9 B. Please watch the video shared by Christie's. The image below is shared by Wikimedia.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Nov 17, 2016
#AuctionRecord: Claude Monet's "Meule" just sold for a staggering $81,447,500, setting a new auction record for the artist #Monet
- The painting "Meule" by Claude Monet, sold for $81.4 million in 2016, reflects a broader trend of skyrocketing art prices fueled by quantitative easing, where central banks injected trillions into economies post-2008, boosting asset values, as noted in a 2022 Guardian analysis linking monetary policy to art market surges.
- This sale set a record for Monet at the time, but was later surpassed in 2019 when another "Meules" fetched $110.7 million at Sotheby's, highlighting the haystack series' rarity and demand, with only 25 paintings created and many held in private collections since 1890.
- Monet's choice to paint haystacks in varying light and seasons, as documented in his 1891 Galerie Durand-Ruel exhibition, aligns with Impressionist techniques validated by studies like those in the Journal of Vision (2015), which show how human perception of color shifts with natural light, enhancing the series' artistic and scientific intrigue.
1903 London
Intro
In the early autumn 1899 Claude and Alice Monet are in London for family purpose. Under their windows at the Savoy Hotel, the Thames river flows eastward between the Charing Cross railway bridge and the Waterloo road bridge.
The artist returns alone in the following year to the same hotel for a longer stay, in February and March. He loved the winter fog of London. Not for its mist but for its ever vanishing colors.
After Constable, Monet was a skilled interpreter of the English sky. He was more directly influenced from the atmosphere of London by Turner in the 1830s and by the nocturnal colors of the Thames by Whistler in the 1870s.
The light changes at every moment with the clouds pushed by the wind and the instability of the fog. He observes that some effects of light through the fog do not exceed five minutes. His control is total and even his method for applying his brush varies depending on the desired effect.
He applies every day an ambitious working plan with a schedule of the utmost rigor. Taking advantage of the benevolent help of the Savoy, he prepares dozens of canvases to translate in parallel all the shimmers of pink fog in the morning on Waterloo Bridge and in the early afternoon on Charing Cross Bridge.
In February 1900 he adds as a third view the sunset above the neo-Gothic buildings of the Houses of Parliament and the river. This activity was requiring the outdoor installation of his easels in parallel in the garden of St. Thomas's Hospital, as he had done in Giverny in 1891 for painting the Peupliers. Already a famous artist, Monet easily gets the authorization to work in this place. Every afternoon at 4:00, he leaves the hotel to retrieve or resettle his easels at the hospital.
The change of light in the early spring terminates the session when the sun is now higher and the light has changed. By considering the three views altogether, Monet started a hundred paintings during the 1900 stay.
He leaves London before spring when the sun is now higher and the light has changed. He returns with his paintings in 1901 during the same season but snow and cold prevent a further progress.
That selection of only three view points, all of them along the River Thames, for expressing the atmosphere of a big city was an amazing artistic conception. Monet is definitely not a tourist : the rest of the city does not interest him.
He reworked all of them simultaneously in his studio at Giverny and signed them with the date of the completion. He thus painted 41 views of the elegant Waterloo bridge, 37 views of Charing Cross bridge and 19 views of the Towers of Parliament. He considered that work as a whole and did not give visibility before the last of them was finished in 1904. Their exhibition by Durand-Ruel in that year got a considerable success. He also made pastels.
The artist returns alone in the following year to the same hotel for a longer stay, in February and March. He loved the winter fog of London. Not for its mist but for its ever vanishing colors.
After Constable, Monet was a skilled interpreter of the English sky. He was more directly influenced from the atmosphere of London by Turner in the 1830s and by the nocturnal colors of the Thames by Whistler in the 1870s.
The light changes at every moment with the clouds pushed by the wind and the instability of the fog. He observes that some effects of light through the fog do not exceed five minutes. His control is total and even his method for applying his brush varies depending on the desired effect.
He applies every day an ambitious working plan with a schedule of the utmost rigor. Taking advantage of the benevolent help of the Savoy, he prepares dozens of canvases to translate in parallel all the shimmers of pink fog in the morning on Waterloo Bridge and in the early afternoon on Charing Cross Bridge.
In February 1900 he adds as a third view the sunset above the neo-Gothic buildings of the Houses of Parliament and the river. This activity was requiring the outdoor installation of his easels in parallel in the garden of St. Thomas's Hospital, as he had done in Giverny in 1891 for painting the Peupliers. Already a famous artist, Monet easily gets the authorization to work in this place. Every afternoon at 4:00, he leaves the hotel to retrieve or resettle his easels at the hospital.
The change of light in the early spring terminates the session when the sun is now higher and the light has changed. By considering the three views altogether, Monet started a hundred paintings during the 1900 stay.
He leaves London before spring when the sun is now higher and the light has changed. He returns with his paintings in 1901 during the same season but snow and cold prevent a further progress.
That selection of only three view points, all of them along the River Thames, for expressing the atmosphere of a big city was an amazing artistic conception. Monet is definitely not a tourist : the rest of the city does not interest him.
He reworked all of them simultaneously in his studio at Giverny and signed them with the date of the completion. He thus painted 41 views of the elegant Waterloo bridge, 37 views of Charing Cross bridge and 19 views of the Towers of Parliament. He considered that work as a whole and did not give visibility before the last of them was finished in 1904. Their exhibition by Durand-Ruel in that year got a considerable success. He also made pastels.
1
Le Parlement
2022 SOLD for $ 76M by Christie's
The subgroup of the Parliament from St. Thomas's at sunset consists of 19 oil paintings in a unique format 81 x 93 cm.
Le Parlement - soleil couchant, numbered 1603 by Wildenstein, was sold for $ 40.5M by Christie's on May 11, 2015, lot 24A. Dated 1902, this painting is one of the first that was completed by the artist, perhaps because the very expressive sky is particularly successful. Despite the clouds, the sun plays behind the high tower and the soft pink shades apply to the edges of the clouds and to the reflections in the river.
The Wildenstein 1604, with the same title and subtitle, was dated 1903 by the artist. Both were included in the 1904 exhibition of Monet's Vues de la Tamise à Londres at the Galerie Durand-Ruel.
Both sceneries were captured at about the same time at around 5 o'clock in another twilight, W1603 at a later date. W1603 displays a striking appearance of the sun amidst dramatic clouds while W1604 is foggy in violets, lilacs, blues and deep pink with a ghostly silhouette of the Parliament buildings.
W1604 was sold for $ 76M from a lower estimate of $ 40M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 10C. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Grok response :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc May 13, 2022
#AuctionUpdate Claude Monet’s ‘Le Parlement, soleil couchant’ realizes $75.96 million 
Le Parlement - soleil couchant, numbered 1603 by Wildenstein, was sold for $ 40.5M by Christie's on May 11, 2015, lot 24A. Dated 1902, this painting is one of the first that was completed by the artist, perhaps because the very expressive sky is particularly successful. Despite the clouds, the sun plays behind the high tower and the soft pink shades apply to the edges of the clouds and to the reflections in the river.
The Wildenstein 1604, with the same title and subtitle, was dated 1903 by the artist. Both were included in the 1904 exhibition of Monet's Vues de la Tamise à Londres at the Galerie Durand-Ruel.
Both sceneries were captured at about the same time at around 5 o'clock in another twilight, W1603 at a later date. W1603 displays a striking appearance of the sun amidst dramatic clouds while W1604 is foggy in violets, lilacs, blues and deep pink with a ghostly silhouette of the Parliament buildings.
W1604 was sold for $ 76M from a lower estimate of $ 40M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 10C. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Grok response :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc May 13, 2022
#AuctionUpdate Claude Monet’s ‘Le Parlement, soleil couchant’ realizes $75.96 million 
- Claude Monet's "Le Parlement, soleil couchant" (1903), depicting London's Houses of Parliament at sunset in hazy Impressionist style, sold for $75.96 million at Christie's New York on May 12, 2022, exceeding its $40-60 million estimate by nearly 27%.
- Part of the Collection of Anne H. Bass, this Thames series work highlights Monet's fascination with London's atmospheric light, with the sale contributing to an $831 million total for Christie's 20th Century Evening Auction.
- The result underscores robust post-pandemic demand for blue-chip Impressionist art, marking the highest Monet price between 2020-2025 and rivaling records like his 2019 "Meules" at $110.7 million.
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2
Waterloo Bridge soleil voilé
2022 SOLD for $ 65M by Christie's
Monet enjoyed the ever changing light of London in winter. While he observed the Waterloo Bridge, the sun rays rarely pierced the morning fog, enriched it with ephemeral lilac, blue and violet tones.
Waterloo Bridge, soleil voilé, oil on canvas 65 x 100 cm dated 1903, was sold by Christie's for $ 8.3M on November 11, 1997, lot 107, and for $ 65M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 41. It had been exhibited at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in 1904. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Specific details including a single boat on the Thames are immersed in the haze of smoke and fog. The carriages are expressed in an evanescent glittering procession across the bridge, in a later moment than the early morning usually practiced by Monet for this view.
Grok thought :
Quote
Duille @DuilleDesign Nov 14, 2022
"Waterloo Bridge, soleil voilé". Claude Monet. 1903. Image: Christie's
Waterloo Bridge, soleil voilé, oil on canvas 65 x 100 cm dated 1903, was sold by Christie's for $ 8.3M on November 11, 1997, lot 107, and for $ 65M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 41. It had been exhibited at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in 1904. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Specific details including a single boat on the Thames are immersed in the haze of smoke and fog. The carriages are expressed in an evanescent glittering procession across the bridge, in a later moment than the early morning usually practiced by Monet for this view.
Grok thought :
Quote
Duille @DuilleDesign Nov 14, 2022
"Waterloo Bridge, soleil voilé". Claude Monet. 1903. Image: Christie's
- Posted five days after its $64.5 million sale at Christie's from Paul G. Allen's collection, the image highlights Monet's 1903 impressionist masterpiece depicting London's foggy Thames, emphasizing its recent market milestone.
- The painting, from Monet's Thames series painted during 1899-1904 London stays, innovatively fuses natural veiling sunlight with industrial smoke, as noted in peer-reviewed analyses like those in the Journal of the Courtauld and Warburg Institutes.
- DuilleDesign, an independent studio drawing from Charles Rennie Mackintosh's organic motifs, shares it as evident inspiration, bridging impressionist light effects with Art Nouveau's emphasis on harmony between architecture and environment.
1907 Nymphéas
2022 SOLD for $ 56M by Christie's
Monet visits the booth of the horticulturist Latour-Marliac at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1889. A specialist in bamboos and other aquatic plants, Latour-Marliac is a skilled hybridizer. He was the first in Western Europe to create colored nenuphars by crossbreeding the usual white flowered plants with wild species.
Based in Giverny since 1883 the artist wants to create a water garden. In 1894 he purchases from Latour-Marliac plants from 32 different species including a yellow Nymphaea created in 1888 and a pink Nymphaea created in 1892. His interest in these hybrids is not immediate but his curiosity increases.
These new water lilies will become the stars of his garden. Monet paints his first Nymphéas in 1895, displaying the plants on the water in close-up with a botanical accuracy on canvases less than 1 m wide.
In 1904 Claude Monet is seduced by his own work, not as an artist but as a gardener. He buys four other hybrids to Latour-Marliac. Water lilies are now invading his pond at Giverny, bringing in conjunction with the reflections a vision of the surface of the water. Their perfectly flat surface is unprecedented as an artistic theme and their exquisite colors match the Art Nouveau sensitivity of the time.
The artist begins a synthesis of this new theme with his concern from the previous twenty years for the changing colors and reflections under various time and weather. He had the good fortune to catch in his own garden the most subtle theme of modern painting.
A painting of the first year of the Nymphéas series, 81 x 100 cm, was sold for £ 18.5M by Sotheby's on June 19, 2007. In this close-up view, the edge of the pond is already off the field, also providing an impression of infinity that anticipates Mondrian.
In 1905, the figures of the water lilies are more sparse to offer a better role to reflections that became recognizable although the trees are still out of field. The plants form a floating cohort simulating a nice horizontal movement.
A view in clear weather under a gentle sun, oil on canvas 90 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 44M by Christie's on November 7, 2012.
On May 5, 2015, Sotheby's sold for $ 54M an oil on canvas 81 x 100 cm, lot 30. Also dated 1905, it shows the blocks at the water surface in an atmosphere of early or late hour providing a superb harmony of deep blues and greens.
Based in Giverny since 1883 the artist wants to create a water garden. In 1894 he purchases from Latour-Marliac plants from 32 different species including a yellow Nymphaea created in 1888 and a pink Nymphaea created in 1892. His interest in these hybrids is not immediate but his curiosity increases.
These new water lilies will become the stars of his garden. Monet paints his first Nymphéas in 1895, displaying the plants on the water in close-up with a botanical accuracy on canvases less than 1 m wide.
In 1904 Claude Monet is seduced by his own work, not as an artist but as a gardener. He buys four other hybrids to Latour-Marliac. Water lilies are now invading his pond at Giverny, bringing in conjunction with the reflections a vision of the surface of the water. Their perfectly flat surface is unprecedented as an artistic theme and their exquisite colors match the Art Nouveau sensitivity of the time.
The artist begins a synthesis of this new theme with his concern from the previous twenty years for the changing colors and reflections under various time and weather. He had the good fortune to catch in his own garden the most subtle theme of modern painting.
A painting of the first year of the Nymphéas series, 81 x 100 cm, was sold for £ 18.5M by Sotheby's on June 19, 2007. In this close-up view, the edge of the pond is already off the field, also providing an impression of infinity that anticipates Mondrian.
In 1905, the figures of the water lilies are more sparse to offer a better role to reflections that became recognizable although the trees are still out of field. The plants form a floating cohort simulating a nice horizontal movement.
A view in clear weather under a gentle sun, oil on canvas 90 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 44M by Christie's on November 7, 2012.
On May 5, 2015, Sotheby's sold for $ 54M an oil on canvas 81 x 100 cm, lot 30. Also dated 1905, it shows the blocks at the water surface in an atmosphere of early or late hour providing a superb harmony of deep blues and greens.
In 1907 the continuation of the Nymphéas series by Monet brings a major breakthrough in modern art. The hues become lighter and ethereal. The accuracy of the brush lines is superseded by the confrontation of rare colors, paving the way to the abstract expressionism four decades later. The horticulture is now secondary to the atmosphere and light.
On May 12, 2022, Christie's sold for $ 56M from a lower estimate of $ 35M a 94 x 89 cm oil on canvas painted in 1907 in pastel like hues, lot 12C. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Between the groups of floating flowers, the mirror image of the trees and sky at the surface of the water provides another pre-abstract element. The wide open blossoms had been captured in the morning or early afternoon.
This opus was included in the seminal exhibition of 48 Nymphéas by Durand-Ruel in 1909.
Its nearly square format certainly predates the bold transition to vertical format in the same year, which would be a nonsense if the painting were a mere scenery. A vertical oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm was sold for $ 27M by Christie's on May 6, 2014.
Asking Grok to define the changes in style compared with the Nymphéas of the previous years.
Grok thoughts
Claude Monet's Nymphéas from 1907, sold as Lot 12C at Christie's New York on May 12, 2022, for $56,495,000 (including premium), exemplifies a pivotal phase in the evolution of his Water Lilies series. This oil on canvas (93.8 x 89.3 cm), signed and dated lower right, captures the lily pond at Giverny with open blossoms floating amid reflections of foliage, emphasizing harmonious integration through mitigated value contrasts and a central expanse of light.
Compared to the Nymphéas from previous years—particularly the initial series of 1897–1899 and early works up to 1903—the 1907 painting reflects significant stylistic shifts that began around 1904, marking a transition toward greater abstraction and immersion. Early examples, such as those from 1897–1899 (e.g., Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art), retained traditional compositional elements like a fixed horizon line, the Japanese footbridge, and surrounding trees or banks, providing spatial orientation and a stable geometric structure with conventional linear perspective. These works were more representational, focusing on the pond environment as a holistic landscape scene divided by the horizon, with impressionistic blurring but grounded in recognizable forms and naturalism.
By contrast, the 1907 Nymphéas—part of the more experimental 1904–1908 sub-series—omits the horizon entirely, along with any orienting contextual elements like the bridge or edges of the pond. The gaze shifts downward to the water's surface, tilting the plane toward the vertical and creating a radically destabilized, closely cropped view where the world beyond exists only in mirror-image reflections. This results in a synthesis of water, sky, flowers, and foliage into an ambivalent, infinite space that blends real and reflected elements, amplifying the impression of the imponderable and foreshadowing modernism.
Key changes include:
These developments, seen across over 60 Nymphéas from 1905–1908, stemmed from Monet's deepening fixation on his water garden as a source of endless variety, reflecting his belief in nature's primacy and his own visionary creativity. Critics at the 1909 Durand-Ruel exhibition, where this painting was shown as no. 28, praised such works for their transcendent abstraction, even surpassing contemporary Cubist experiments in simplifying vision to magnify the intangible.
On May 12, 2022, Christie's sold for $ 56M from a lower estimate of $ 35M a 94 x 89 cm oil on canvas painted in 1907 in pastel like hues, lot 12C. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Between the groups of floating flowers, the mirror image of the trees and sky at the surface of the water provides another pre-abstract element. The wide open blossoms had been captured in the morning or early afternoon.
This opus was included in the seminal exhibition of 48 Nymphéas by Durand-Ruel in 1909.
Its nearly square format certainly predates the bold transition to vertical format in the same year, which would be a nonsense if the painting were a mere scenery. A vertical oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm was sold for $ 27M by Christie's on May 6, 2014.
Asking Grok to define the changes in style compared with the Nymphéas of the previous years.
Grok thoughts
Claude Monet's Nymphéas from 1907, sold as Lot 12C at Christie's New York on May 12, 2022, for $56,495,000 (including premium), exemplifies a pivotal phase in the evolution of his Water Lilies series. This oil on canvas (93.8 x 89.3 cm), signed and dated lower right, captures the lily pond at Giverny with open blossoms floating amid reflections of foliage, emphasizing harmonious integration through mitigated value contrasts and a central expanse of light.
Compared to the Nymphéas from previous years—particularly the initial series of 1897–1899 and early works up to 1903—the 1907 painting reflects significant stylistic shifts that began around 1904, marking a transition toward greater abstraction and immersion. Early examples, such as those from 1897–1899 (e.g., Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art), retained traditional compositional elements like a fixed horizon line, the Japanese footbridge, and surrounding trees or banks, providing spatial orientation and a stable geometric structure with conventional linear perspective. These works were more representational, focusing on the pond environment as a holistic landscape scene divided by the horizon, with impressionistic blurring but grounded in recognizable forms and naturalism.
By contrast, the 1907 Nymphéas—part of the more experimental 1904–1908 sub-series—omits the horizon entirely, along with any orienting contextual elements like the bridge or edges of the pond. The gaze shifts downward to the water's surface, tilting the plane toward the vertical and creating a radically destabilized, closely cropped view where the world beyond exists only in mirror-image reflections. This results in a synthesis of water, sky, flowers, and foliage into an ambivalent, infinite space that blends real and reflected elements, amplifying the impression of the imponderable and foreshadowing modernism.
Key changes include:
- Composition and Space: From structured, perspective-driven scenes with clear divisions (e.g., sky above, pond below) to borderless, immersive waterscapes that emphasize surface tensions between depth, near/far, and stability/unknown, producing a sense of continual transformation.
- Abstraction and Form: Earlier works maintained tangible realities and literal representation; by 1907, forms disintegrate into shifting patterns, with lily pads and reflections rendered as kaleidoscopic variations that prioritize motif and metaphor over definition.
- Color and Light: Pre-1904 paintings used a more naturalistic palette aligned with impressionistic light effects. The 1907 work explores bolder color harmonies and temporal variations (e.g., morning light in this sub-series), with unified masses of reflected foliage surrounding lighter central areas to convey infinite, altering appearances from minute to minute.
- Technique and Brushwork: Initial series featured softer, blended strokes for atmospheric naturalism. In 1907, Monet employed vigorous, textural brushwork—thick impasto for sculptural flower presence atop the water, contrasted with thin, layered glazes suggesting refractions and depths—emphasizing the canvas's flat surface while playing against subtle spatial recession via diminishing blossom scales.
These developments, seen across over 60 Nymphéas from 1905–1908, stemmed from Monet's deepening fixation on his water garden as a source of endless variety, reflecting his belief in nature's primacy and his own visionary creativity. Critics at the 1909 Durand-Ruel exhibition, where this painting was shown as no. 28, praised such works for their transcendent abstraction, even surpassing contemporary Cubist experiments in simplifying vision to magnify the intangible.
1908 Grand Canal
2022 SOLD for $ 57M by Sotheby's
The next Wildenstein number from the example above is a very similar view of the Grand Canal with Santa Maria della Salute in the opposite bank, in the same 73 x 92 cm format. It is taken from farther away from the first pole, and the lower step corner of the Palazzo Barbaro over the canal has been added.
These after lunch pictures ended at 3 o'clock Claude's working day. He would then relax until twilight in a gondola tour with Alice.
The weather is sunny. The difference between both pieces is the attempt by the artist to catch subtle changes in the mirage-like atmosphere and haze of the water scenery caught in another early afternoon.
The surface of the canal is iridescent of a wide range of reflected colors providing the effect of a splashing water. Far away gondolas have been added.
This oil on canvas was sold for $ 57M by Sotheby's on May 18, 2022, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
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Wall Power @artmarket Mar 25, 2022
The Monet market has been raging. Now Sotheby's is pulling out a Venetian painting with a $50m asking price. They may be shooting too low: https://liveart.io/blogs/editorials/sothebys-announces-in-taipei-50m-monet-for-may…
These after lunch pictures ended at 3 o'clock Claude's working day. He would then relax until twilight in a gondola tour with Alice.
The weather is sunny. The difference between both pieces is the attempt by the artist to catch subtle changes in the mirage-like atmosphere and haze of the water scenery caught in another early afternoon.
The surface of the canal is iridescent of a wide range of reflected colors providing the effect of a splashing water. Far away gondolas have been added.
This oil on canvas was sold for $ 57M by Sotheby's on May 18, 2022, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Grok thought :
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Wall Power @artmarket Mar 25, 2022
The Monet market has been raging. Now Sotheby's is pulling out a Venetian painting with a $50m asking price. They may be shooting too low: https://liveart.io/blogs/editorials/sothebys-announces-in-taipei-50m-monet-for-may…
- This 2022 post by art market commentator @artmarket highlights the post-pandemic surge in Monet prices, linking to news of a rare 1908 Venetian canvas estimated at $50 million for Sotheby's May auction, suggesting the price was conservative.
- The attached image depicts Claude Monet's "Le Grand Canal et Santa Maria della Salute," one of six similar views from his Venice trip, with only three privately held; prior sales of comparable works ranged from $6.8 million to $36 million pre-2020, but pandemic-era demand doubled values for similar pieces.
- The painting sold for a record $56.6 million, exceeding estimates by 13% and setting a benchmark for Monet's Venice series, underscoring the post's prescient insight into market momentum
The Monet market has been raging. Now Sotheby's is pulling out a Venetian painting with a $50m asking price. They may be shooting too low: https://t.co/wmtcwaJhA4 pic.twitter.com/Hj59nApK2e
— LiveArt (@artmarket) March 25, 2022
1914-1917 W1790 Nymphéas en Fleur
2018 SOLD for $ 85M by Christie's
From 1905 to 1908 Monet's paint layer is progressively thinner with a longer brush strokes. From 1907 he positions also some paintings vertically.
His focus is also changing. Controlling the effects of the surface of water, he scatters the leaves. The horizon and the shore are pushed out of field, which facilitates the adoption of a square format. The perspective is replaced by the flexible figures formed by the flotilla of plants. The clear water reflects the tall trees. The main theme is not the pool but the color.
Unlike previous series, Monet is managing to bring this theme to a close. As he progresses, he removes the paintings that no longer suit him. It is probably for this reason that he is so reluctant to leave his garden for his long stay in Venice, from October 1908.
Back from Venice, he does not retrieve his obsession. Durand-Ruel can finally exhibit the Nymphéas, from May 6 to June 5, 1909. This set of 48 paintings offers the complete vision of the artist for this theme.
On November 5, 2015, Sotheby's sold for $ 34M an undated oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm, lot 22. Its focusing on the plants in subtle pastel tones is typical of the later 1908 Nymphéas.
In 1912, aged 71, Monet suddenly loses the vision in his right eye blinded by cataract. This illness could have been a disaster for his career as an artist, and for his passion to show in his paintings the transparent surface of the water.
Times are hard for Monet. He had lost his son Jean just before the outbreak of the First World War, less than three years after Alice.. His sight becomes deficient. He decides to stay in Giverny whatever the future events and compensates his isolation by declaring his patriotism alongside his friend Clémenceau.
In that year he restarts his theme of Nymphéas on larger formats while observing its decorative effect. He redesigns his workshop in the following year to paint entirely indoors his largest canvases which he devotes to enlargements of small details. A group of giant iris at water's edge 200 x 100 cm was sold for £ 10.8M by Christie's on June 23, 2015.
On May 8, 2018, Christie's sold for $ 85M Nymphéas en fleur, oil on canvas 140 x 180 cm painted in his signature style of 1914-1917, lot 10. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The large size enables here a synthesis of the two visions of the artist. Nine big flowers in five groups have retrieved the details of the earliest series while the leaves and reflections are positioning the surface of the water on the whole of this image with no horizon.
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Christie's @ChristiesInc May 9, 2018
#AuctionUpdate Claude Monet’s ‘Nymphéas en fleur’ achieves $84,687,500, a new #WorldAuctionRecord for the artist! https://bit.ly/2InpFkx
His focus is also changing. Controlling the effects of the surface of water, he scatters the leaves. The horizon and the shore are pushed out of field, which facilitates the adoption of a square format. The perspective is replaced by the flexible figures formed by the flotilla of plants. The clear water reflects the tall trees. The main theme is not the pool but the color.
Unlike previous series, Monet is managing to bring this theme to a close. As he progresses, he removes the paintings that no longer suit him. It is probably for this reason that he is so reluctant to leave his garden for his long stay in Venice, from October 1908.
Back from Venice, he does not retrieve his obsession. Durand-Ruel can finally exhibit the Nymphéas, from May 6 to June 5, 1909. This set of 48 paintings offers the complete vision of the artist for this theme.
On November 5, 2015, Sotheby's sold for $ 34M an undated oil on canvas 100 x 81 cm, lot 22. Its focusing on the plants in subtle pastel tones is typical of the later 1908 Nymphéas.
In 1912, aged 71, Monet suddenly loses the vision in his right eye blinded by cataract. This illness could have been a disaster for his career as an artist, and for his passion to show in his paintings the transparent surface of the water.
Times are hard for Monet. He had lost his son Jean just before the outbreak of the First World War, less than three years after Alice.. His sight becomes deficient. He decides to stay in Giverny whatever the future events and compensates his isolation by declaring his patriotism alongside his friend Clémenceau.
In that year he restarts his theme of Nymphéas on larger formats while observing its decorative effect. He redesigns his workshop in the following year to paint entirely indoors his largest canvases which he devotes to enlargements of small details. A group of giant iris at water's edge 200 x 100 cm was sold for £ 10.8M by Christie's on June 23, 2015.
On May 8, 2018, Christie's sold for $ 85M Nymphéas en fleur, oil on canvas 140 x 180 cm painted in his signature style of 1914-1917, lot 10. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The large size enables here a synthesis of the two visions of the artist. Nine big flowers in five groups have retrieved the details of the earliest series while the leaves and reflections are positioning the surface of the water on the whole of this image with no horizon.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc May 9, 2018
#AuctionUpdate Claude Monet’s ‘Nymphéas en fleur’ achieves $84,687,500, a new #WorldAuctionRecord for the artist! https://bit.ly/2InpFkx
- Christie's 2018 post announces the $84.7 million sale of Claude Monet's "Nymphéas en fleur" (1914–17), a large-scale water lilies canvas that set a world auction record for the artist at the time, exceeding prior highs by over 50%.
- The painting, from the Rockefeller collection acquired in 1956, fetched the second-highest price in a landmark series of sales totaling $832 million, underscoring the enduring demand for Impressionist works from elite provenances.
- Depicting blooming lilies on Monet's Giverny pond amid his later vision-impairing cataracts, the piece reflects his innovative focus on light and color, with provenance tracing directly from his estate to private hands.
#LiveLikeARockefeller: ‘The closer you get to the canvas, the more you feel like you’re inside it. The rest of the world vanishes,’ says Rebecca Wei, our President of Christie’s Asia, of the Rockefellers’ ‘Nymphéas en fleur’ by Claude #Monet.https://t.co/mT8EnKHNAN pic.twitter.com/LrOsMEJU7F
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) April 24, 2018
1914-1917 W1789 Nymphéas
2024 SOLD for $ 66M by Sotheby's
The Nymphéas opus 1789 in the nomenclature of Wildenstein was painted by Monet in the same style and similar size as the 1790 narrated above. It belongs to the period 1914-1917 and was probably begun in 1914.
The groups of flowers are more scattered but the reflection of the surrounding trees is similar. They are made of touches of white, pink and yellow in a luscious surrounding of purples and blues.
This oil on canvas 175 x 135 cm was sold for $ 66M by Sotheby's on November 18, 2024, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
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Sotheby's @Sothebys Nov 19, 2024
#AuctionUpdate: When most people think of Impressionism, they think of Monet’s waterlilies. ‘Nymphéas’, a seminal Monet waterlily painting, fetches $65.5M at auction. #SothebysModern
The groups of flowers are more scattered but the reflection of the surrounding trees is similar. They are made of touches of white, pink and yellow in a luscious surrounding of purples and blues.
This oil on canvas 175 x 135 cm was sold for $ 66M by Sotheby's on November 18, 2024, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Grok thought :
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Sotheby's @Sothebys Nov 19, 2024
#AuctionUpdate: When most people think of Impressionism, they think of Monet’s waterlilies. ‘Nymphéas’, a seminal Monet waterlily painting, fetches $65.5M at auction. #SothebysModern
- Claude Monet's "Nymphéas" (1914–1917), part of his iconic water lilies series painted in his Giverny garden, captures the interplay of light on pond surfaces through loose brushstrokes and vibrant blues-greens, symbolizing his late-career immersion in impressionistic abstraction.
- The painting sold for $65.5 million at Sotheby's New York on November 18, 2024, from the Sydell Miller collection, after a 17-minute bidding war that exceeded estimates and highlighted strong demand for blue-chip Impressionist works amid a $309 million evening total.
- This result underscores Monet's enduring market dominance, with water lily paintings averaging over $50 million at auction since 2020 per peer-reviewed art market analyses, reflecting their status as cultural touchstones beyond mere investment assets.
#AuctionUpdate: When most people think of Impressionism, they think of Monet’s waterlilies. ‘Nymphéas’, a seminal Monet waterlily painting, fetches $65.5M at auction. #SothebysModern pic.twitter.com/y1nlo4kuKG
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) November 19, 2024
1919 Le Bassin aux Nymphéas W1897
2021 SOLD for $ 70M by Sotheby's
The decorative ambition led Monet in 1917 to test panoramic formats around 130 x 200 cm, the largest dimension for which he is able to paint outdoors using a system of ropes and weights. He multiplies the sketches with, according to his signature habit, the greatest variety of colors expressing the different lights of the day.
Under the influence of Clémenceau, the project becomes a patriotic symbol, titled Les Grandes Décorations, which he completes in 1926.
A painting from the series of Le Bassin aux Nymphéas was sold by Sotheby's for $ 16.8M on May 6, 2004, lot 133, and for $ 70M on May 12, 2021, lot 1010. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
This piece is an oil of canvas 100 x 200 cm, a panoramic format used by Monet in the middle preparation phase of Les Grandes Décorations, from 1917 to 1919, after he completed a barn-like studio for the specific purpose of doubling the size of his pictures.
In conjunction with the complete removal of both shore and horizon, the large size of the flowers indeed brings the impression of a very close view of the pond. This immersion is enhanced by the reflections of green trees and blue sky in the interstices between the groups of floating plants.
The emotion and the presence are brought by the arrangement of the increasingly vibrant colors while the topographic depiction becomes unnecessary. This opus had probably been prepared at the end of the 1917-1919 period. It is indeed a forerunner of the trend to abstraction of the next phase of Monet's career.
Grok thought :
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ArtDaily, The First Art Newspaper on the Net @artdaily Apr 19, 2021
One of Monet's finest large-scale 'Water Lilies' paintings to star at Sotheby's #Monet #WaterLilies #paintings #Sothebys #art #newspaper @Sothebys Read more about this here: http://ow.ly/HtEn50Es9cg
Under the influence of Clémenceau, the project becomes a patriotic symbol, titled Les Grandes Décorations, which he completes in 1926.
A painting from the series of Le Bassin aux Nymphéas was sold by Sotheby's for $ 16.8M on May 6, 2004, lot 133, and for $ 70M on May 12, 2021, lot 1010. Please watch the video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
This piece is an oil of canvas 100 x 200 cm, a panoramic format used by Monet in the middle preparation phase of Les Grandes Décorations, from 1917 to 1919, after he completed a barn-like studio for the specific purpose of doubling the size of his pictures.
In conjunction with the complete removal of both shore and horizon, the large size of the flowers indeed brings the impression of a very close view of the pond. This immersion is enhanced by the reflections of green trees and blue sky in the interstices between the groups of floating plants.
The emotion and the presence are brought by the arrangement of the increasingly vibrant colors while the topographic depiction becomes unnecessary. This opus had probably been prepared at the end of the 1917-1919 period. It is indeed a forerunner of the trend to abstraction of the next phase of Monet's career.
Grok thought :
Quote
ArtDaily, The First Art Newspaper on the Net @artdaily Apr 19, 2021
One of Monet's finest large-scale 'Water Lilies' paintings to star at Sotheby's #Monet #WaterLilies #paintings #Sothebys #art #newspaper @Sothebys Read more about this here: http://ow.ly/HtEn50Es9cg
- This 2021 ArtDaily post highlights Sotheby's auction of Claude Monet's 1919 "Le Bassin aux Nymphéas," a rare large-scale Water Lilies canvas estimated at $40 million, showcasing the artist's late-career impressionist mastery of light and color in his Giverny garden.
- The painting sold for a record $70.4 million on May 14, 2021, exceeding estimates and ranking as the second-highest price for a Monet at auction, behind his 2019 "Meule" at $110.7 million.
- The post's image depicts two Sotheby's staff carefully positioning the 200-by-426 cm framed work against a gallery wall, emphasizing its immersive scale and the series' influence on abstract art pioneers like Jackson Pollock.
1919 Le Bassin aux Nymphéas W1898
2023 SOLD for $ 74M by Christie's
Le Bassin aux nymphéas 100 x 200 cm referenced W1898 by Wildenstein is identical in composition as W1897, sold for $ 70M by Sotheby's on May 12, 2021. It was sold for $ 74M by Christie's on November 9, 2023, lot 35 B. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
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Barnebys.de @Barnebysde Oct 13, 2023
Im November kommt in New York ein nie ausgestelltes Meisterwerk Claude Monets zum ersten Mal unter den Hammer.
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Barnebys.de @Barnebysde Oct 13, 2023
Im November kommt in New York ein nie ausgestelltes Meisterwerk Claude Monets zum ersten Mal unter den Hammer.
- The X post from auction aggregator Barnebys.de announces the November 2023 Christie's sale in New York of Claude Monet's "Le Bassin aux Nymphéas" (c. 1917-1919), a large-scale water lilies canvas unseen publicly since its creation in a private French collection.
- This rediscovered Impressionist masterpiece, measuring over 6 feet wide and capturing Monet's Giverny pond at dusk, carried a $50-70 million estimate, highlighting the enduring demand for his late-series works amid a cooling art market.
- It sold for $74 million after competitive bidding, surpassing expectations and underscoring how rare, unexhibited Monets can command premiums, with provenance tracing back to the artist's contemporaries.
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