A piece of artwork by Claude Monet that has been on display at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City for over a decade will be put up for auction at Christie’s in the month of May, with an estimated price tag of $25 million.
The heirs of Ethel B. Atha, who jointly own the work, have been given a wealth that ranges from $18 million to $25 million as a result of the residence. In the evening sale of Christie’s 20th century, it will be placed for sale as part of a headline auction series that will take place in New York.
In the year 1888, two paintings were painted representing a mill in a French town. One of these paintings is called Moulin de Limetz. The identical twin canvas realized a price of $25.6 million at Sotheby’s auction house in November of last year, which was around $7 million more than its top estimate of $18 million.
“Chambers characterized the work as a prologue to Monet’s development into series, which would become a defining tenet of his late career.”
Even after taking into account taxes, the amount of money that Moulin de Limetz has acquired will not be able to compete with the record that Monet established at Sotheby’s in 2019 for Meules (1890), which was sold for $110.7 million. Nevertheless, as we get closer to the two-week mark of the first Impressionist show, there is a possibility that expectation will be high.
Having a fantastic provenance is an additional advantage that the image has. In the year 1890, it was purchased from Claude Monet by Paul Durand-Ruel, who was the most prominent dealer of Impressionist art at the time. After being in the possession of Lucien Sauphar for a number of years, the piece of artwork was eventually handed over to the collectors Joseph S. and Ethel B. Atha of Kansas City in the year 1941. This item was repurchased by Durand-Ruel via M. Knoedler & Co. The sculpture was acquired by the Nelson-Atkins Museum in 1986 as a part of a partial bequest, and it has been on exhibit at the museum ever since 2008.
It is anticipated that collectors will be extremely enthusiastic about this opportunity, as stated by Imogen Kerr, who is the co-head of Christie’s 20th century evening sales. This is due to the fact that there has been a significant surge in interest in Monet’s work in recent times, as well as the fact that this particular piece is not only exceptional but also extremely rare, and it has a significant historical pedigree. “Moulin de Limetz is expected to generate significant interest around the world, as exceptional works by Monet have universal appeal.”
The process of selling artwork from a museum’s collection is known as deccessioning, and it is often participated in by museums. However, in recent years, this method has grown increasingly controversial as a result of institutions taking advantage of rules that are more lax about the process. One of the most important pieces of art in a museum will be put up for auction in the month of May, and among the works that will be up for sale is the Monet.
A spokesperson for Christie’s said that the Monet was never completely owned by the Nelson-Atkins Museum; hence, the deaccession of the painting is not going to take place. According to what was said in the statement about the residence, the sale was being made in order to “benefit future art acquisitions” at the museum.
Image Courtesy : Claude Monet, Moulin de Limetz (1888)COURTESY CHRISTIE’S
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