Show me the Monet - painting fetches $107m

A water lily painting by impressionist master Claude Monet was sold for more than 40 million pounds ($NZ107 million) at auction today, kicking off a week of modern-art sales expected to reach records that defy the global economic downturn.

The painting Le bassin aux nympheas, or Water Lily Pond, was sold by Christie's for 40,921,250 pounds, including buyer's premium, making it the most expensive work of art ever sold by the auction house in Europe.

It was part of a four-work collection of water lily paintings that Monet put up for sale during his lifetime. He saw the oil paintings of his water garden as a cumulative work in progress, and rarely sold them.

The four large-scale paintings of Monet's water lily garden were signed and dated by the artist in 1919. One of the other paintings is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, while another was sold at auction in 1992 for $US12.1 million ($NZ16.2 million) and is in a private collection. The final painting in the series was cut into two before World War 2.

The 1 metre by 2 metre painting sold was purchased in a 1971 New York auction for $US320,000. It has not been publicly exhibited since.

The bold brushstrokes in the painting are characteristic of Monet's later works, especially his Grandes decorations, a 22-panel work of water lily paintings that was installed in Musee de l'Orangerie in Paris five months after Monet's death in 1926.

Monet created his water garden in Giverny, France by rerouting a river. He selected different hybrids of water lilies in an effort to get as many different coloured flowers as possible, deliberately creating the garden as a motif for his paintings.

The auction also features a rare pastel work by French impressionist Edgar Degas showing two ballet dancers. It is expected to fetch 4 million pounds to 6 million pounds.

The auction kicks off a week of major modern-art sales at Christie's and its rival Sotheby's, as the international market continues to set records despite global economic troubles.

Naked Portrait With Reflection by British artist Lucian Freud is expected to sell for 10 million to 15 million pounds at a Christie's sale of postwar and contemporary art.

The next day, Sotheby's offers its own contemporary sale, whose highlights include Francis Bacon's Study For Head of George Dyer -- estimated at more than 8 million pounds -- and Jean-Michel Basquiat's Untitled (Pecho/Oreja), which is being sold by rock band U2 and is valued at up to 6 million pounds.

Le bassin aux nympheas, and 16 other works in the auction are from the estate of American industrialist J. Irwin Miller, who was head of the Cummin Engine Company in Columbus, Indiana. Miller and his wife, Xenia Simons Miller, were known for their love of art and architecture and are credited in transforming their hometown into a showcase for modern architecture.

The previous record for a Monet work was set in May at Christie's in New York. The 1873 painting Le Pont du chemin de fer Argenteuil sold for $US41 million. It shows the scene of a bridge with two trains passing over the Seine.