By Uma Nair
IANS
London : Claude Monet's 1904 masterpiece "Nymphéas" will be the star of Sotheby's auction here next week and is estimated to fetch upto 15 million pounds.
In fact, it would be no surprise if it beats the 19.8 million pounds record for a Monet, which was set in 1998. The painting is to be held as part of the auction house's Impressionist & Modern Art sale June 19-20.
"Nymphéas", considered to be the artist's most important, has hung on the same private wall for 81 years. One of Monet's iconic water lilies series, it was bought by an unknown collector from the artist's son, Michel, in the 1920s and exhibited in Paris in 1936. It has never been cleaned, never restored and never auctioned.
Paintings such as this come to the market literally once in a lifetime. But in what promises to be the most remarkable sale that London's art world has ever seen, "Nymphéas" will be just one among a host of Impressionist, modern and contemporary works that will set records for at least five artists.
It will also ensure that this is the richest auction week that Europe, and possibly the world, has ever known.
Fuelled by new billionaires from Russia, China and India, lavish prices are tempting owners to part with rare masterpieces, which in turn command ever greater prices. Around nine percent of the Impressionist paintings sold in February went to Russians.
The London market has surged 600 percent since 2002. According to Helena Newman, Sotheby's vice-chairman of Impressionist and modern art, the difference between estimates and hammer prices is explained by a work's rarity and the determination of somebody to own it.
"The opportunity to buy one of these classic modern masters is incredibly rare. We'd expect 'Nymphéas' to appeal to one of our aggressive new buyers. I wouldn't be surprised if it went beyond its estimate."