June 24 2014 - HMO Update: Monet painting sells for record sum , Mondrian's Composition with Red, Blue and Grey had not been offered for sale at auction for 50 years.

What is it some of the global elite may know that others might not yet know??  Is it time to head for the hills? ...
Why are these RARE highly coveted paintings going up for sale NOW?


Water Lilies painting Nympheas by Monet sells for £32m

The 1906 Claude Monet water lilies painting, Nympheas, has sold for £31.7m in London.
This is the second highest price which has ever been paid for a Monet  peice at an auction. 

Inspired by the lily pond in Monet's garden at Giverny in France, the painting was the top lot at Sotheby's sale of modern and impressionist works.

The auction totaled just under £122m, including £15.2m for Piet Mondrian's 1927 Composition with Red, Blue and Grey.

Sotheby's said it proved collectors are still keen to acquire "trophy art".

Paintings by Sisley, Picasso, Manet and Kandinsky were also among the 46 works,  many sold close to the top end of the pre-auction estimates and sometimes above and with only four pieces failing to find a buyer.

"The Nympheas selling for such a huge sum is again a reflection that this is still a market that is driven by trophies, that the great works by the major masters are still really sought after," said Philip Hook from Sotheby's.

 

Mondrian's Composition with Red, Blue and Grey had not been offered for sale at auction for 50 years

 

 

Claude Monet's water lilies painting, Nympheas, is among his "greatest achievements"

 

The auction house said the bidding for the Monet work attracted buyers from Asia and all over the world and went on for 10 minutes, going up in £250,000 increments in its final stages.

A Spokesman said the painting, from the "most iconic and celebrated of Monet's painting series, can be counted among the artist's greatest achievements".

It once belonged to the legendary art dealer who championed the Impressionists and represented Monet, Paul Durand-Ruel.

This same work had been offered for auction in 2010 but failed to reach its reserve price.

Sotheby's said this time it had carried a more "realistic" estimate of £20m to £30m.

This £31.7m sale price  included a buyer's premium.

There were two other Monet paintings also offered in this auction sale. They were La Seine a Argenteuil which sold for £8.5m and Antibes, vue du plateau Notre-Dame, which sold for £7.9m.

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