A famous Monet painting just sold to a mysterious buyer for a record $110.7 million — more than 44 times what the seller paid for it

REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

• A Claude Monet painting just sold for $110.7 million to an unidentified buyer at Sotheby’s in New York, CNN reported.
• It’s the most expensive Impressionist artwork ever sold at auction, according to Sotheby’s. 
• The 1890 painting is part of Monet’s "Haystacks" series, which he painted at his home in Giverny, France.
• The seller paid $2.5 million for the painting in 1986.

A Claude Monet painting just sold for $110.7 million at a Sotheby’s auction, according to CNN.

The 1890 painting from Monet’s "Haystacks" series broke the record for the most expensive Impressionist artwork ever sold at auction, according to Sotheby’s.

The painting sold after eight minutes of "heated competition" between six bidders, The New York Times reported. The buyer was in the room but has not been identified. The $110.7 million price tag is about 44 times the $2.5 million the seller paid for the painting in 1986. 

Read more: The 16 most expensive paintings ever sold

Monet painted his "Haystacks" series at his home in Giverny, France, in the winter of 1890-1891.

The one sold Tuesday evening "distinguishes itself from others in the series by its vibrant paint palette, dramatic diagonal brushstrokes of varying directions that meet at the center and a unique perspective with only part of the first haystack appearing in the foreground," according to AFP.

While it broke the record for Impressionism, the Monet painting is not the most expensive painting ever sold at auction. That would be Leonardo da Vinci’s "Salvator Mundi," which sold for $450 million at a Christie’s auction in 2017 to Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia.

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SEE ALSO: The 16 most expensive paintings ever sold

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Source: Business Insider – kwarren@businessinsider.com (Katie Warren)