Claude Monet's Iris mauves top performed at Christie's Impressionist and Modern sale last night (June 23).
The 1914-1917 work beat its £9m estimate to make £10.8m ($17.1m) in London.
 A detail from Claude Monet's Iris mauves |
Consigned from a private European collection, the piece formed part of Monet's ambitious Grandes decorations series.
The market for Monet is strong. His 1908 work Le Grand Canal sold for £23.6m ($35.5m) at Sotheby's in February.
It's possible, however, to own a superb Monet item without spending millions.
Click here to view this Monet-signed letter for sale at Paul Fraser Collectibles.
Picasso's 1969 piece Tete made £4.5m ($7m) while Kees van Dongen's Anita en almee sold for £4.1m ($6.5m).
The auction realised £71,460 ($112,908) in total, with 29 pieces selling above $1m.
Jay Vincze, the head of Christie's London impressionist and modern art department, commented: "This evening's sale of Impressionist & Modern Art saw notable demand for highly covetable works by the masters of late 19th and 20th century art, led by Claude Monet's remarkable 'Iris mauves'.
"Once again, this auction attracted global participation from bidders around the world, further evidencing the deep international demand for the category witnessed in our New York Sales in May.
"This resulted in strong prices across the full breadth of the category, from the birth of Impressionism - illustrated by the rare 1872 work by Alfred Sisley - to the energy of the late 1969 portrait by Pablo Picasso."
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