These 10 Paintings Just Sold for $378.75 Million

When Claude Monet’s Meule (Haystacks) from 1891 appeared on the stage at Christie’s on Wednesday night, there was a visible stirring in the audience. People took out their phones to take pictures, and others craned their necks to see the lovely deep red, purple, and blue painting. It was the top lot of the night's Impressionist & Modern sales, carrying a presale estimate of $45 million.

Like much of the rest of the week, bidding started slowly, with anonymous phone bidders gradually pushing up the price in million-dollar increments, and after more than 14 minutes the hammer came down on a final price of $72.5 million. With auction house fees, that total was pushed to $81.4 million, a world-record at auction for Monet. The audience applauded, and for the first time in a while, it wasn’t just polite golf claps: Finally the auction market, if only briefly, had regained its mojo.