One of Claude Monet's famous water lily paintings will take centre stage at Christie's first-ever evening auction of 20th- and 21st-century art, held on September 26th at its new Asian headquarters in Hong Kong.
The work is expected to sell for HK$200 million to HK$280 million (US$25 million to US$35 million), which would make it one of the most valuable Western works of art ever auctioned in the region.
The work, titled “Water Lilies” (1897-99), depicts the lily pond at Monet's home in Giverny, France. Christie's says it is one of the first works by Monet to feature the subject of water lilies. After Monet's death in 1926, the work remained in Monet's family for many years, before entering a private collection and being consigned to Christie's.
Zao Wu-Ki's abstract painting “05.06.80-Triptyque (1980),” estimated at HK$78 million-128 million ($10 million-15 million), will be auctioned alongside the Monet work.
Christie's will make its debut at the Zaha Hadid Architects-designed Henderson, while Sotheby's and Bonhams are also set to open their own Asian headquarters in Hong Kong later this year. Phillips has already expanded into the region, setting up an Asian base in West Kowloon, Hong Kong.
However, with Western markets slowing, it remains to be seen what will happen in Asian markets.
