The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City is to sell Claude Monet’s painting Christie’s this May; the artwork could fetch as much as $25 million.
Co-owned by the heirs of Ethel B. Atha, the painting has garnered an estimated value of $18 million to $25 million. The painting will be featured in Christie’s 20th-century evening sale, a prominent event within the auction house’s marquee series in New York.
Entitled “Moulin de Limetz,” the painting is one of two depictions of a mill in a French commune created by Monet in 1888. Its counterpart was sold last fall at Sotheby’s for $25.6 million, surpassing its high estimate of $18 million by over $7 million.
Christie’s described the painting as a “prologue to Monet’s development into series, which would become a defining tenet of his late career.”
While the amount expected from the sale of “Moulin de Limetz” is unlikely to rival Monet’s auction record, set by “Meules” in 2019 at $110.7 million, interest in the painting could be heightened, especially with the anniversary of the first Impressionism show just two weeks away.
The painting boasts an impressive provenance, having been acquired directly from Monet by the prominent Impressionist dealer Paul Durand-Ruel in 1890. After passing through the hands of collector Lucien Sauphar, Durand-Ruel repurchased the artwork with M. Knoedler & Co before it was eventually sold to Kansas City-based collectors Joseph S. and Ethel B. Atha in 1941. Subsequently, in 1986, the painting was partially bequeathed to the Nelson-Atkins Museum, where it has been on display since 2008.
Imogen Kerr, co-head of Christie’s 20th-century evening sales, expressed anticipation regarding the sale, stating, “Given the strong interest in Monet’s work in recent seasons, and with this being such a fine and rare example with exceptional historic provenance, we expect collectors to be very excited by this opportunity. Exceptional works by Monet have universal appeal, and we expect ‘Moulin de Limetz’ to generate significant interest around the world.”
