Oil painting by Claude Monet, 1881, of a wide wheat field at Lavacourt with poplar trees under a sky of cirrus clouds.

Catalogue No. 2120 · Sotheby's · New York

Champ de Blé

Sold for

$12.1million

Sotheby's, New York · 8 November 2012 · 149th of 392 in the Record Book

About $17.7 million in today’s money: 200 years of the typical US household’s income. Source

Artist: Claude Monet (French, 1840-1926)
Title: Champ de Blé
Date: 1881
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 65.7 x 82 cm (25 7/8 x 32 1/4 in.)

Claude Monet painted Champ de Blé in 1881. The oil on canvas measures about 66 by 82 centimetres. Sotheby's catalogue note and the Cleveland Museum of Art place the view at Lavacourt, across the river from Vétheuil, with poplar trees in the wheat field under a sky of cirrus clouds.

William H. Fuller of New York owned the painting by 1891. Durand-Ruel in Paris acquired it from him on 31 August 1897, and Durand-Ruel in New York on 12 November 1897. Fuller then acquired it again on 28 February 1898. Henry White Cannon owned it in 1899, and Mrs. Henry White Cannon (née Jenny Olive) gave it to the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1947.

The museum offered it at Sotheby's in New York on 8 November 2012, in the Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, as lot 19, with the proceeds intended for future acquisitions. The estimate was $5 million to $7 million. ARTnews reports that it sold for $12.1 million, and that the sale had been postponed from 5 November by Tropical Storm Sandy.

The sale

Auction house: Sotheby's, New York
Date: 8 November 2012
Lot: 19
Estimate: $5,000,000-$7,000,000
Sold for: $12.1 million (including buyer’s premium) · $12.1 million

Estimate Price · sold for 73% above the high estimate. Estimates don’t include the buyer’s premium; the price does.

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Provenance

by 1891
William H. Fuller, New York (by 1891).
31 August 1897
Durand-Ruel, Paris (acquired from the above on August 31 1897).
12 November 1897
Durand-Ruel, New York (acquired from the above on November 12 1897).
28 February 1898
William H. Fuller, New York (acquired from the above on February 28, 1898).
1899
Henry White Cannon, New York (1899); then Mrs. Henry White Cannon (née Jenny Olive).
1947
Acquired as a gift from the above in 1947 (Cleveland Museum of Art).
8 November 2012
Offered by the Cleveland Museum of Art at Sotheby's, New York, Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale, lot 19; proceeds for future acquisitions.

Sources

Prices include the buyer’s premium, in US dollars at the time of sale, unless marked as a hammer price.

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