Christie’s hosted its Dear Mr Monet sale in Hong Kong over the weekend.
The auction featured a wealth of art and memorabilia connected with Claude Monet, mostly from the collection of his granddaughter Rolande Verneiges.
Monet's eyeglasses proved a big hit in the Hong Kong sale
Monet’s Falaises des Petites-Dalles (1884) was the overall highlight, selling for $4.6m (double its estimate).
Monet painted the work on a visit to the Normandy coast, a region he found deeply inspiring. It is part of a celebrated series.
He would return again in the 1890s to paint these same views.
A pair of Monet’s eyeglasses also performed well in the memorabilia section of the sale, achieving $51,457.
That sum is all the more impressive when you consider those glasses had been valued at just $2,000.
Adrien Meyer, co-chair of Christie’s impressionist and modern art department, said: “The energy during the worldwide preview and the momentum in the auction room tonight confirms once again Monet's magic aura.
“There was a high level of international bidding with over 75% of the buyers from Asia leading to a sale’s total more than double its low estimate.
“The strong results validates the strong appetite of the Asian market for Impressionism.”
We have a signed letter from another great master of impressionism.
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