An array of artefacts show how cultural cross-pollination thrived across centuries and continents under Byzantine rule
By Albert Chen
In a groundbreaking auction at Christie’s on November 9, 2023, Claude Monet’s masterpiece, “Le bassin aux nymphéas,” achieved a record-setting sale of USD 74,010,000. The iconic painting, dating from 1917-1919 and measuring 100.1 x 200.6 cm, surpassed all expectations, becoming one of the most expensive Monet artworks ever sold.
Widely celebrated as a landmark of late Impressionism, “Le bassin aux nymphéas” captures the essence of Monet’s famed gardens at Giverny. The large-scale canvas showcases the artist’s signature play of impasto and vibrant brushwork, offering a mesmerizing portrayal of the flowing planes of flowers and the expansive lily pond.
The auction result exceeded the undisclosed estimate, highlighting the painting’s significance and desirability in the art market. With a provenance tracing back fifty years within the same family collection, the sale adds to the allure of this captivating example from Monet’s water lily series.
Monet’s dedication to depicting the beauty of his Giverny gardens during the late 1910s marked a period of renewal and experimentation. “Le bassin aux nymphéas” exemplifies this transition, departing from smaller paysages d’eau to grand, monumental depictions that later found favor among the Abstract Expressionist movement.
The painting’s journey begins in 1883 when Monet, seeking a permanent home, moved his family to Giverny. The property, with its blossoming fruit trees and meticulously designed water garden, became the artist’s muse. Monet’s stepson, Jean-Pierre Hoschedé, recalled the deliberate planting of water lilies to enhance the visual impact of the pond.
“Le bassin aux nymphéas” stands as a masterful representation of the atmospheric environment of the pond. Monet’s focus on the water’s surface, reflections, and interplay of colors and light captures the viewer’s imagination. The recent sale at Christie’s reflects a renewed appreciation for Monet’s late works, bridging the worlds of figurative and abstract art.
Monet’s ambitious plans for large-scale depictions of water lilies, conceived in the late 1890s and briefly abandoned, saw a resurgence in 1914. The unveiling of the Grandes décorations, a series of twenty-two large panels donated to the French state, solidified his water lily theme’s enduring legacy.
“Le bassin aux nymphéas” not only set a new record for a Monet painting but also reaffirmed the artist’s status as a visionary. The groundbreaking sale at Christie’s cements Monet’s place in art history, showcasing the enduring appeal and influence of one of the art world’s most iconic figures.
Founded in 1766, Christie’s is a world-leading art and luxury business with a physical presence in 46 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific, and flagship international sales hubs in New York, London, Hong Kong, Paris and Geneva. Renowned and trusted for our expert live and online-only auctions, as well as bespoke Private Sales, Christie’s unparalleled network of specialists offers our clients a full portfolio of global services, including art appraisal, art financing, international real estate and education. Christie’s auctions span more than 80 art and luxury categories, at price points ranging from $500 to over $100 million.
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San Francisco presents the first exhibition dedicated to Botticelli’s drawings
From November 18, 2023, to February 11, 2024, the Legion of Honor in San Francisco presents “Botticelli Drawings”, a major exhibition drawing together the complete graphic output of one of the world’s most famous artists for the first time.
Source: Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco · Image: Sandro Botticelli, “The Devout Jews at Pentecost,” ca. 1505. Black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, highlighted with white gouache on paper. 9 1/8 x 14 3/8 in. (23.1 x 36.5 cm.) Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Photograph by Wolfgang Fuhrmannek.
A quintessential artist of the Italian Renaissance, Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi—better known as Sandro Botticelli—has had an enduring influence on contemporary culture, from art and design to dance, music, fashion, and film. Known for some of the world’s greatest paintings, from “La Primavera” (1477–1482) to the “Birth of Venus” (1485–1486), Botticelli has inspired the likes of artists Andy Warhol, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Cindy Sherman, among others. He was an expert draftsman, creating drawings that underlie and animate his greatest compositions. Although key to the aesthetic driving his continued relevance and popularity, there has been no major exhibition dedicated to Botticelli’s art of drawing—until now. Reuniting rare works from across the United States and Europe, Botticelli Drawings—presented exclusively at the Legion of Honor—is the first exhibition to explore the central role that drawing played in Botticelli’s art and workshop practice. Anchored by extensive research by Furio Rinaldi, curator of prints and drawings at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the exhibition unveils five newly attributed drawings alongside nearly 60 works from 42 lending institutions. Pairing Botticelli’s graphic output as a whole from the Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence; British Museum, London; and The Morgan Library & Museum, New York alongside key paintings on loan from The National Gallery, London; the Galleria Borghese, Rome; and the Musée du Louvre, Paris, Botticelli Drawings offers a rare opportunity to explore the artistic process behind such renowned works as The Adoration of the Magi (1475–1476), reunited here with three preparatory designs.
“Botticelli Drawings” features 27 drawings by the artist, exploring the medium as his primary form of artistic expression. The incredible rarity and fragility of these works precludes frequent travel, and many are leaving their lending institutions for the very first time in modern history solely for this exhibition. The result of original, exacting research, the exhibition unveils five newly attributed drawings by Botticelli. The preparatory drawing for the Louvre’s “The Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist” (ca. 1468–1480), newly attributed, is reunited here with the resulting painting. Other unprecedented pairings, such as the brush drawings on linen—divided between the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England, and the Morgan Library & Museum in New York—with the resulting painting of “The Adoration of the Magi” (1475–1476, Uffizi), offer insight into the artist’s transformative method of composition and design process. Departing from the standard interpretation of Botticelli’s later years as a period of decline marred by successive political upheavals in the wake of the Medici’s ouster, the exhibition rethinks the artist’s works from the 1490s and 1500s as one of his most experimental phases yet. The Museums’ presentation offers a new lens through which to consider the artist’s unconventional stylistic evolution toward linear abstraction, resistance to perspective, and anti-naturalism.
“Botticelli’s paintings are world-renowned for their grace and exquisite line, but the relationship between his drawings and paintings has never been fully investigated,” remarked Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. “Now, in this stunning and groundbreaking exhibition, the majority of Botticelli’s graphic output takes us below the surface of the paintings to illuminate the artist’s creative process, from conception and development to final execution.”