Monet painting fetches $74m at auction in New York

NEW YORK - A painting of water lilies by French impressionist Claude Monet has sold for $74-million, as part of a lively fall art auction season.

"Le bassin aux nympheas" topped the projected sale price of $65-million when it went under the hammer at Christie's auction house in New York on Thursday night.

Other notable sales included 20th century expressionist painter Richard Diebenkorn's "Recollections of a Visit to Leningrad" which sold for $46-million, while fellow American Joan Mitchell's "Untitled" went for $29-million.

Three paintings by Paul Cezanne were sold, including "Fruits et pot de gingembre" for nearly $39 million.

On Wednesday, Pablo Picasso's "Woman with a Watch," fetched $139.3-million, the second-highest price ever achieved for the artist.

"Femme a la montre," the 1932 painting depicting one of the Spanish artist's companions and muses, French painter Marie-Therese Walter, had been valued at over $120-million before going on the block at Sotheby's.

The fall auction season, which started Tuesday and ends next Wednesday, has so far seen $748-million in sales at Christie's and more than $400-million at Sotheby's.