11/16/16 - On November 16th, Christie’s in New York offered for auction an exceptional rarity by French artist Claude Monet: the painting "Meule" (1891) is one of the 22 artworks belonging to the series "Grainstack", most of which are housed in museums around the world. Near his house in Giverny, Monet captured the twilight reflected over a stack of wheat, left by local workers after harvest. This painting a plein air is very characteristic of this artist, who was always interested in depicting the light and weather variations throughout the day. "Meule" had an estimated base price of U$S 45 million but it was sold for almost twice that amount, breaking the previous 2008 record of Monet's 1919 "Le Bassin aux Nymphéas" (U$S 80.5 million). After 15 tense minutes, the painting soared to almost U$S 82 million, and found a new owner in a private collector.