Scott Reyburn‘s Christie’s auction re-cap contains this brief narrative of the auction life of Monet’s Dans la prairie:
Monet’s Impressionist 1876 painting “Dans la Prairie,” showing his wife Camille reclining and reading in a flower-strewn meadow, attracted a single bid of 11.2 million pounds, with fees[ . . . .] The 2-foot 8-inch wide canvas had been estimated by the auction house to fetch 15 million pounds, making it the most valuably estimated work offered in London’s February series of Impressionist and modern art sales. [ . . . ] Dealers said the Monet result shows early Impressionist art is falling out of fashion. In 1988, at the height of the last art-market boom, when Japanese bidders were bulk-buying classic Impressionist works, the painting sold at Sotheby’s in London for 14.3 million pounds with fees. It had last appeared on the auction market in November 1999 at Sotheby’s New York, where it sold for $15.4 million.
Monet, Modigliani, Low Estimates Boost Christie’s London Sale (Bloomberg)
