# Claude Monet artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/claude-monet/ Profile generated: 2026-04-29T17:48:38.437Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1840-11-14 - Death date: 1926-12-05 - Nationality: French - Movements: Impressionism - Common media: Oil painting, Watercolor ## About Claude Monet Claude Monet (1840–1926) was a French painter and the principal founder of Impressionism, a movement that transformed Western art by prioritizing the artist's direct perception of light and atmosphere over academic convention. Born in Paris and raised in Le Havre, Monet developed his approach to plein air landscape painting alongside Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, and Camille Pissarro during the 1860s. The movement's name itself derives from his 1872 canvas Impression, Sunrise, shown at the first independent Impressionist exhibition in 1874. Over a career spanning more than six decades, Monet remained the most consistent practitioner of Impressionist principles, eventually settling in Giverny, where his extensive gardens became the subject of his celebrated late series. His exploration of serial motifs — including the Water Lilies, Haystacks, Rouen Cathedral, and Houses of Parliament — influenced the development of abstract art in the twentieth century. ## Common works and media Monet's body of work is dominated by oil on canvas landscapes, seascapes, and garden scenes painted en plein air. Collectors most frequently encounter paintings from his Giverny period — especially water lily ponds, Japanese bridge views, and iris beds — as well as earlier Normandy coast scenes, Argenteuil river views, and London cityscapes. Serial groups such as the Haystacks, Rouen Cathedral, and Poplars are well-represented in museum and private collections. Monet also produced pastel and charcoal caricatures early in his career, and a smaller number of drawings and watercolors. Original prints in the traditional sense are not part of his output; nearly all graphic works on the market are reproductive posters or exhibition catalogs rather than artist-made prints. ## Market and appraisal context Claude Monet commands one of the deepest and most stratified auction markets of any artist in history. Appraisily auction records index 1,388 lots dating from November 1990 through April 2026, with 716 carrying a recorded price. The price distribution is exceptionally wide: the minimum recorded price is $2 (decorative reproductions and posters) while the maximum is approximately $233 million (blue-chip Impressionist and Modern Art evening sales at Christie's and Sotheby's). The median across all priced lots is roughly $38,105, and the 75th percentile sits near $2.76 million, reflecting the sharp divide between original authenticated paintings by Monet and the large volume of reproductions, lithographs, and "in the style of" works that populate the lower end of the market. Authenticated original paintings from major periods routinely achieve seven- and eight-figure results at houses such as Christie's, Sotheby's, Lempertz, and Koller Auctions — for example, Mer agitée à Pourville (1882) realized €2.9 million at Lempertz in November 2024, and an original at Koller Auctions realized CHF 1.9 million the same month. The trailing-12-month lot count of 142 is down from 175 in the prior 12 months, suggesting a modest cooling in offering volume but continued liquidity. Recent lots also show steady activity at mid-tier and decorative-price houses such as Sarasota Estate Auction, Eldred's, and Antikbar Original Vintage Posters, where lithographs, posters, and attributed works trade between $50 and $1,700. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Claude Monet commands one of the deepest and most stratified auction markets of any artist in history. Appraisily auction records index 1,388 lots dating from November 1990 through April 2026, with 716 carrying a recorded price. The price distribution is exceptionally wide: the minimum recorded price is $2 (decorative reproductions and posters) while the maximum is approximately $233 million (blue-chip Impressionist and Modern Art evening sales at Christie's and Sotheby's). The median across all priced lots is roughly $38,105, and the 75th percentile sits near $2.76 million, reflecting the sharp divide between original authenticated paintings by Monet and the large volume of reproductions, lithographs, and "in the style of" works that populate the lower end of the market. Authenticated original paintings from major periods routinely achieve seven- and eight-figure results at houses such as Christie's, Sotheby's, Lempertz, and Koller Auctions — for example, Mer agitée à Pourville (1882) realized €2.9 million at Lempertz in November 2024, and an original at Koller Auctions realized CHF 1.9 million the same month. The trailing-12-month lot count of 142 is down from 175 in the prior 12 months, suggesting a modest cooling in offering volume but continued liquidity. Recent lots also show steady activity at mid-tier and decorative-price houses such as Sarasota Estate Auction, Eldred's, and Antikbar Original Vintage Posters, where lithographs, posters, and attributed works trade between $50 and $1,700. ### Appraisal notes When Appraisily appraises a work attributed to Claude Monet, the auction-record dataset of 1,388 indexed lots provides a broad comparable pool — but the enormous price dispersion means that photos, dimensions, medium, and signature analysis are essential to place the item in the correct tier. An appraisal would proceed by (1) confirming medium (original oil on canvas versus offset lithograph, reproduction, or "in the style of" work), (2) verifying dimensions and scale, which strongly correlate with price tier, (3) documenting signature style and placement, (4) tracing provenance and checking against the Wildenstein catalogue raisonné, (5) assessing condition appropriate to a work that may be over a century old, and (6) selecting comparable lots from the same series or period, medium, and size range. For original authenticated paintings, comparable lots at Christie's, Sotheby's, Lempertz, and Koller provide the most relevant benchmarks. For reproductions, posters, and attributed works, the sub-$2,000 range documented at houses such as Linwoods Auction, Eldred's, and Antikbar provides more appropriate comparables. ### Valuation factors - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] - [object Object] ### Collector notes ### Market caveats - The Appraisily auction-record dataset includes 1,388 lots spanning originals, attributed works, reproductions, posters, and lithographs. Prices span from $2 to approximately $233 million, so any valuation must first establish which tier the item occupies before referencing comparable lots. - Monet is among the most frequently forged Impressionist artists. Attribution should reference the Wildenstein catalogue raisonné and, where applicable, committee opinions. Works not included in the catalogue raisonné should be treated with caution. - Multiple recent lots are explicitly catalogued as 'in the style of,' 'attributed to,' or 'after' Claude Monet. These designations indicate the auction house does not guarantee the work is by Monet's hand and values are not comparable to authenticated originals. - Prints and reproductions of Monet's work are widespread and generally carry minimal value compared to original paintings. Original prints in the traditional printmaking sense are not part of Monet's output; nearly all graphic works on the market are reproductive. - Prices are recorded in multiple currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, CHF) across the dataset and have not been normalized to a single currency. Currency conversion should be applied when comparing lots across houses and countries. - The trailing-12-month lot count (142) is down 19% from the prior 12-month period (175), which may indicate reduced consignment activity rather than reduced demand. A single season can skew counts significantly for an artist with a finite body of work. ### Market evidence sources - Appraisily auction record index: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/claude-monet/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - Invaluable / Lempertz: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-claude-monet-mer-agitee-a-pourville-1882-16-c-8af4133830 - Invaluable / Koller Auctions: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-claude-monet-3214-c-70844849b4 - Invaluable / Kunstauktionshaus Schloss Ahlden: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-claude-monet-1596-c-8555d26e95 - Invaluable / Eldred's: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-claude-monet-france-1840-1926-vue-de-honfleur-offset-lithograph-in-black-on-paper-7-5-x-9-75-sight-framed-26-x-30-3317-c-5d703e6945 - Invaluable / Hotspot Auctions: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-claude-monet-1840-1926-french-attributed-to-oil-on-canvas-233-c-7153a60153 - Invaluable / Linwoods Auction: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-claude-monet-1840-1926-in-the-style-of-oil-on-canvas-53-c-9b33a41588 - Invaluable / Sarasota Estate Auction: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-claude-monet-1840-1926-french-first-state-first-printing-1892-haystacks-etching-1269-c-d9d1b8c7dd - Invaluable / Antiques & Modern Auction Gallery: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-claude-monet-haystack-at-giverny-lithograph-606-c-a6db909bde - Invaluable / Hill Auction Gallery: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-modern-impressionism-painting-after-claude-monet-381-c-1f892d1e41 - Invaluable / Keystone Auctions LLC: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-framed-reproduction-of-claude-monet-228-c-942726d50e ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from museum, library-authority, and scholarly sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. The identity profile on this page draws on the Library of Congress Name Authority File, VIAF, the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History, Wikidata, Tate, and the MoMA artist database. ## Sources - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79055527 - RKD — Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/56860 - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q296 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Monet - VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/24605513/ - Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/claude-monet-1652 - The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/4058