Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Nymphéas
The Dissolution of Form.
By 1907, Giverny had become Monet’s entire world. At 67, battling fading eyesight, the artist stopped looking at the landscape and started looking through it.
This Nymphéas is not a painting of water lilies; it is a painting of the substance of light itself. The water surface acts as a mirror between the sky and the earth, dissolving the horizon line. In this canvas, Monet effectively erases the boundary between the subject and the sensation of pure color, paving the way for Abstract Expressionism.
Provenance & History:
The work holds impeccable provenance, acquired directly from the artist by galleries Durand-Ruel and Bernheim-Jeune in December 1920. It has since been exhibited globally—from the Tate Gallery to the Metropolitan Museum of Art—and spent decades in the Kawamura Memorial DIC Museum in Japan.
Why it matters: A trophy asset of the highest order. To own a 1907 Nymphéas is to own the bridge between Classicism and Modernity.
Details:
Oil on canvas.
92 x 73.6 cm (36 ¼ x 29 in).
Signed and dated lower right: Claude Monet 1907.
Market Context:
Auction: Christie’s, New York.
Date: 17 Nov 2025.
Estimate: $60,000,000