What happens after the bidding war ends? Well, in the case of this Monet, the work ends up on loan to the buyer’s favorite museum. Now the game becomes guessing the buyer’s nationality because when it was sold at Sotheby’s in London this June, there were competing bids from a Chinese-speaking client, an Indian client and the Sotheby’s staffer who eventually won it.

The National Gallery of Canada has been loaned a multi-million dollar painting by beloved Impressionist painter Claude Monet. The moody Le Pont de bois, created in 1872, was given to the gallery on a long-term loan by an art lover who wishes to remain anonymous.

It becomes the sixth Monet at the National Gallery, which has the largest public collection of Monet’s works in Canada.

Le Pont de bois was just sold in June at Sotheby’s art auction in London for $9.6 million U.S. News reports don’t identify the buyer, but a bidding war boosted the price above original estimates of its worth of between $6.1-$9.2 million.

National Gallery Obtains Its Sixth Monet Painting (Ottawa Citizen)