Claude Monet’s Iris Heads to Auction After Nearly 100 Years

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For nearly a century, Claude Monet’s Iris remained hidden from public view. Painted in 1924–25 at Giverny, the monumental canvas will appear at auction for the first time on October 22, 2026. Sotheby’s Paris unveiled the work on September 17, estimating it at €22 million to €30 million (about $25 million to $34 million). If it reaches the high end of its estimate, it could become the most expensive painting ever sold at auction in France.

Iris measures roughly 5 by 6 feet. Purple flowers emerge from a swirling field of green, blue, and violet. Water, sky, foliage, and reflections overlap until the garden becomes difficult to separate from its surroundings. The image pushes Monet’s late work toward abstraction.

The painting has never been publicly exhibited and was previously known only through black-and-white photographs. Sotheby’s says it has never been varnished or damaged, preserving the surface and colors from Monet’s final years at Giverny.

The work also has a remarkable collecting history. Parisian gallerist Katia Granoff acquired Iris from Monet’s son, Michel, with the backing of collector Jeanne Schlumberger. Granoff later sold the painting to Schlumberger, who spent more than four decades building her collection.

At the time, Monet’s late paintings received a mixed critical response. Some critics viewed the increasingly loose forms and expansive brushwork as signs of decline. Granoff and Schlumberger saw them differently. They recognized the connection between Monet’s late garden paintings and the abstraction emerging in modern art.

Sotheby’s calls Iris the most important work from Monet’s iris series ever to reach the market and the largest example still in private hands. It leads Le Temps Retrouvé: The Schlumberger Collection, which is estimated at more than €40 million ($45 million).

Before the Paris sale, Iris will travel to Hong Kong and New York. Its return to public view comes just months before the centenary of Monet’s death in December 2026, bringing one of his largest late paintings back into the spotlight for the first time in generations.