$110.7 million Monet masterpiece makes auction history at Sotheby's New York

Moments ago in a packed salesroom at Sotheby’s New York, Claude Monet’s Meules from 1890 — one of art history’s most evocative images – sold for $110.7 million. The result marks a new world auction record for any work by Claude Monet and the first work of Impressionist art to cross the $100 million threshold at auction. Meules is one of only four works from Monet’s acclaimed Haystacks series to come to auction this century, and one of only eight examples remaining in private hands. The other 17 examples reside in distinguished museum collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Musée d’Orsay, Paris and six in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Meules is further distinguished by its illustrious provenance, having been acquired by wealthy Chicago socialites and fervent collectors of Impressionist works, Mr. and Mrs. Potter Palmer, directly from Monet’s deal