A Venetian waterscape by Claude Monet has sold for more than $35 million at a London auction as the high-end art market shows resilience in a bumpy global economy.

“Le Grand Canal,” fetched 23.7 million pounds ($35.6 million) at Sotheby’s, though it didn’t reach the top of its pre-sale estimate of 20 million pounds to 30 million pounds.

Monet’s “Poplars at Giverny,” sold by New York’s Museum of Modern Art, fetched 10.8 million pounds.

Tuesday’s Impressionist, Modern and Surrealist auction raised 186.4 million pounds, the highest-ever total for a single sale in London.

Sotheby’s said bidders came from 35 countries. Wealthy collectors from emerging markets such as Russia, China and the Middle East have helped buoy prices amid the aftermath of the global financial crisis.

Helena Newman of Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern department said the sale saw “collectors from Asia and Russia asserting themselves as a continued force in the market.”

She said it was “a great night for Monet,” with five works by the French artist netting a total of 55.7 million pounds.

Standouts at the sale included Henri Matisse’s “Odalisque in a Black Armchair,” which sold well over its upper estimate at 15.8 million pounds, and Pablo Picasso’s maquette for a steel sculpture that stands outside Chicago’s Richard J. Daley Center, which raised 8.9 million pounds.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s “In Bed: the Kiss” sold for 10.8 million pounds, the second-highest price ever for the artist.

All the sale prices include a tax known as the buyer’s premium. (AP)

Cezanne masterpiece sold for $20.5m

A Paul Cezanne painting of a southern French town sold for $20.5 million in a London auction on Wednesday, the first time the artwork had been sold since 1936.

“Vue sur L’Estaque et Le Chateau d’If,” rare among Cezanne works as a vertical-format landscape, was painted during a visit to the town of L’Estaque.

The painting, sold at auction by Christie’s, captures a view from the hill above the town, with pine trees framing the fishing port’s terracotta rooftops and the Mediterranean Sea.

The “Chateau d’If” fortress of the title is located on one of the Frioul islands visible in the background of the painting, which had a presale estimate of 8 million pounds-12 million pounds ($12.2 million-$18.3 million).

Dating from around 1883-1885, the artwork was bought in 1936 by collector Samuel Courtauld and remained in his private collection.

Cezanne moved to L’Estaque with his family due to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870, and returned to the town several times. The painting was created during one of his last visits. 

(AFP)