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.
Summary
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.
