Claude Monet's 'Iris' becomes most expensive artwork sold at auction in France, Sotheby's says

Painting was one of several works up for auction ​from ​Schlumberger ⁠Collection, expected to sell ​between €22m-€30m

Claude Monet's "Iris" was sold late on Thursday ​for €50 million ($56.05 million), becoming the ‌most expensive work of art sold at auction in France, Sotheby's ​said.

The painting, completed toward ​the end of Monet's life, ⁠attracted frantic bidding with ​six people battling it out ​for 45 minutes for the piece, before the final two continued to ​scrabble for a further ​20 minutes.

"Iris" finally went to an Asian ‌collector ⁠who bid over the phone.

The painting was one of several works up for auction ​from the ​Schlumberger ⁠Collection and had been expected to sell ​between €22 million and €30 million.

The ​previous ⁠French auction record was set in 2010, by Amedeo Modigliani's "Head ⁠of ​a Caryatid," which ​sold for €43.2 million.

This comes after news in September that two paintings by the Impressionist master Claude Monet that have never been shown in public are to be sold in Paris next month by the billionaire Schlumberger family of France.

"Iris" was described as a large painting Monet completed toward the end of his life, has been valued at 22 million to 30 million euros ($25-34 million), which represents "the highest estimate ever given for a painting offered at auction in France", Sotheby's said as it unveiled the sale at its Paris headquarters.

Alongside "Iris", three other canvases by Monet were also included in the sale on October 22, among them "Saule Pleureur" (Weeping Willow), valued at 9-12 million euros.

The sale comes in the year marking the centenary of Monet's death on December 5, 1926, which is being commemorated by two Paris exhibitions opening in late September: "Monet, Painting Time" and "Stories of Landscapes, from Monet to Hockney."