Monet auction drives Sotheby’s Paris sale to 35 million euros

Paris reclaimed the spotlight on 16 April 2026 as monet auction excitement helped Sotheby’s deliver one of its strongest French results in modern and contemporary art.

A record night for Sotheby’s in Paris

The house closed the evening at 35 million euros, up 84% from the same sale last year. Moreover, the figures reinforced the resilience of the impressionist art market and the appeal of top-quality works in fine art auction Paris.

Two rediscovered Claude Monet paintings dominated the room. Vétheuil, effet du matin had stayed in a private French collection for more than half a century and had not been seen publicly for almost a century. It sparked a ten-minute collectors bidding war before reaching 10.2 million euros, a new claude monet record in France.

That said, the momentum did not stop there. Les Îles de Port-Villez, shown to the public for the first time after 115 years, sold for 6.5 million euros after a fierce exchange between five bidders. The result confirmed the strength of monet paintings auction demand in Paris.

Strong results beyond Monet

According to Sotheby’s co-head of modern and contemporary art in Paris, the sale marked a turning point for the house and for the city’s market. He said the evening underlined Paris as a confident center for international buyers and a natural stage for major Impressionist works more than a century after Monet’s death.

Moreover, the sale extended well beyond Monet. A group of seven original gouaches by Marc Chagall, coming directly from the artist’s estate and never before offered on the market, totaled 5 million euros. Individual works sold for more than one million euros each.

Lucio Fontana also delivered a major result, with Concetto Spaziale, Attese selling for 2 million euros. Rembrandt Bugatti‘s Tigre royal fetched 1.7 million euros, while Chu Teh-Chun‘s Le son des cuivres II doubled its top estimate.

Asian art, Richter and the wider market picture

That said, other segments also drew strong interest. Pierre Soulages exceeded expectations with a result of 1.1 million euros, and Gerhard Richter surprised the market as Untitled (9 Nov. 1995) achieved nearly four times its initial estimate.

Those results supported a broader picture of demand across the room. In total, 62.5% of lots sold above the maximum estimate, while 66% of works appeared at auction for the first time. The figures point to a market powered by fresh supply and strong quality.

In the end, Paris confirmed its status as a key European center for modern art sales. More than a century after Monet’s death, the artist still commands global attention and continues to shape the pace of the market.