One of the few paintings in Claude Monet's celebrated Haystacks series that still remains in private ownership has sold at an auction in New York City for $160 million, setting a record for an impressionist work.
According to Sotheby’s that handled the sale, the oil on canvas titled Meules that was completed in 1890 is the first piece of impressionist art to be sold for more than $US 100 million at auction and also represents the highest amount ever paid at auction for a painting by Monet who is the founder of French impressionism.
Meules was one of 25 paintings in a series depicting stacks of harvested wheat belonging to Monet's neighbour in Giverny, France.