Claude Monet's "Iris" sold at Sotheby's Paris on Thursday, October 22, 2026, for €50 million ($56.05 million), becoming the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction in France, Sotheby's said.

The painting, completed toward the end of Monet's life, drew frantic competition: six bidders fought for 45 minutes before the final two continued for another 20 minutes, with the hammer finally falling to an Asian collector bidding over the phone.

"Iris" had been estimated at €22–30 million — which Hürriyet Daily News notes was already the highest valuation ever given to a painting offered at auction in France — so the €50 million result with fees far exceeded expectations.

The 1.60-by-1.80-meter canvas had never left the billionaire Schlumberger family's Paris mansion and was known only through a black-and-white photograph, according to Hürriyet Daily News, making its public appearance itself a rare event.

The previous French auction record had stood for sixteen years, set in 2010 by Amedeo Modigliani's "Head of a Caryatid" at €43.2 million. "Iris" surpassed that figure by nearly €7 million, and Hürriyet Daily News reports Jeanne Schlumberger (1889–1983) had acquired the work.

The sale lands in the centenary year of Monet's death on December 5, 1926, marked by Paris exhibitions "Monet, Painting Time" and "Stories of Landscapes, from Monet to Hockney."

Per Geo News, three Paul Cézanne paintings classified as French "national treasures" were withdrawn from the sale hours before bidding began, so they might return to the artist's hometown of Aix-en-Provence under an agreement backed by the culture ministry.

Across town, Christie's October 22 sale totaled €41.6 million with fees, including two Monets — "Bord des falaises a Pourville" at €12.7 million and "Trois pots de tulipes" at €3.1 million — plus a Renoir at €5.8 million and a Picasso still life at €3 million.

With "Iris" now France's most expensive auctioned artwork, Paris has claimed a benchmark long held since 2010, in a week when the city staged competing Impressionist sales.

Beyond "Iris," Hürriyet Daily News reports the Schlumberger sale included three other Monets, among them "Saule Pleureur" (Weeping Willow) valued at €9–12 million.