A painting by French Impressionist painter Claude Monet representing his water garden in Giverny fetched £ 19,8 million (US $ 33 million) at Sotheby's on June 30th 1998.
The 89 x 100 cm painting titled «Bassin aux nymphéas et
sentier au bord de l'eau» produced in 1900 dates from the beginning of the ultimate phase of the artist's development as
an Impressionist painter. In the last 25 years of his life, Monet's subject matter was taken almost exclusively from his garden at Giverny. The previous world auction record regarding Monet's works stood at £ 13 million (US $ 21, 65 million).
Monet created a pond with a footbridge reached by a path coasting it after extending his garden in the mid 1890's. Then, the pond was filled with waterlilies and ringed by an artful arrangement of flowers, trees and bushes.
The bridge and the water garden were very Japanese as Monet was fond of Oriental art, notably prints produced by Japanese artists in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Monet started to paint views of his water garden in 1899 as it took him some time to understand his waterlilies and to discover how enchanting his pond was.
He produced 12 pictures in 1899 and six in 1900, including the one sold at Sotheby's.
Obsessed with his waterlilies the painter tried to capture fleeting moments and transitory effects of atmospheres in his Giverny works as he did previously with his various haystacks and views of the Rouen cathedral at different hours of the day.
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