«I LIKE MONEY ON THE WALL»

PARIS — After being out in the cold, Impressionist works are set to shoot to favour at major art auctions in London this week as buyers from Asia and Russia step in where Japanese collectors once feared to tread."Since mid-2009 there's been a strong demand for Impressionist works, which had been squeezed out for three years prior due to the boom in contemporary art," said Samuel Valette, head of Impressionist and Modern Art at Sotheby's France. The accent currently is on quality, he said, with a fold of new buyers from Asia and Russia, as well as European and US investors, "looking for the very best", he said.
That meant not only the aesthetic quality of a work but also its origin, he said. One such piece is a rare water lily painting by Claude Monet, among dozens of modern masterpieces offered for sale by Christie's on Wednesday in London in what is being billed as the "most valuable" art auction ever held in the city.Painted in 1906, "Nympheas" is part of the French Impressionist's iconic Nympheas series and was purchased directly from the artist three years later by dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, whose descendants kept it through several generations.Sold at auction in New York in 2000 to a private collector for 22 million dollars (not including fees), it is expected this week to fetch between 30 and 40 million pounds (44.5 to 59.4 million dollars, 35.9 to 47.9 million euros).