Record auction in Paris, two Monet paintings exceed 16 million

The two canvases, which remained in private collections for over a century and rarely exhibited, have aroused strong interest among international collectors. Both represent landscapes along the Seine, in the surroundings of Giverny, a central place in the artist’s production and a turning point in his pictorial research. “Les Îles de Port-Villez”, created in 1883, belongs to the initial phase of the Giverny period. The work shows a stretch of river dotted with islets and luminous reflections, and is linked to the season in which Monet developed his practice of painting en plein air, often working directly outdoors, even from a studio boat. The painting was purchased at the time by the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, a central figure in the spread of Impressionism. “Vétheuil, effet du matin”, dated 1901, belongs to the artist’s more mature phase. The village of Vétheuil, with its church which dominates the landscape and is reflected in the waters of the Seine, becomes the subject of a composition in which the morning light and atmospheric variations progressively dissolve the form into chromatic vibrations. The work is part of a cycle of views that anticipate some solutions later developed in the famous Water Lilies.

According to Sotheby’s experts, as reported by Adnkronos, the simultaneous reappearance of the two works represents a rare event, also due to the fact that both had remained invisible to the public for decades, in one case for over a century. The joint presentation also allows us to read Monet’s stylistic evolution more fully, from the construction of the natural landscape to the progressive centrality of the effects of light and water. (by Paolo Martini)