DHAKA: A 1906 Claude Monet water lilies painting, ‘Nympheas’, has sold for £31.7m in London, the second highest price ever paid for the artist at an auction.

Inspired by the lily pond in Monet’s garden at Giverny in France, the painting was the top lot at Sotheby’s sale of modern and impressionist works.

It totalled just under £122m, including £15.2m for Piet Mondrian’s 1927 Composition with Red, Blue and Grey.

Sotheby’s said it proved collectors are still keen to acquire ‘trophy art’.

Paintings by Sisley, Picasso, Manet and Kandinsky were also among the 46 works, with only four pieces failing to find buyers as many sold close to the top end of the pre-auction estimates and sometimes above.

‘The Nympheas selling for such a huge sum is again a reflection that this is still a market that is driven by trophies, that the great works by the major masters are still really sought after,’ said Philip Hook from Sotheby’s, reports the BBC.

BDST: 1521 HRS, JUNE 24, 2014