Jeanne Schlumberger: The Eye That Anticipated Modern Art

This October, Sotheby’s Paris presents Le Temps Retrouvé: The Schlumberger Collection, one of the most important private collections of Impressionist and Modern art ever to come to auction in France. Assembled by Jeanne Schlumberger (1889–1983) over more than forty years, the collection remained out of the public eye for decades. Today, it is valued at more than €40 million.

At the heart of the collection is Claude Monet’s Iris (1924–25), a large-scale work painted at Giverny during the final years of the artist’s life and estimated at between €22 million and €30 million. It is now regarded as one of the most significant works of its kind to have appeared on the market, reflecting Monet’s evolution towards an increasingly liberated style, almost approaching abstraction.

The work is closely linked to two women: the gallerist Katia Granoff and Jeanne Schlumberger, both gifted with a remarkable instinct for recognising artistic value. They understood that Monet’s late works did not merely mark the end of Impressionism, but the beginning of a new visual language that would help shape modern painting.

The collection also includes Monet’s Saule pleureur, from his celebrated series of weeping willows, estimated at between €9 million and €12 million, alongside works by Paul Cézanne, Pierre Bonnard, Gustave Moreau, Gustave Courbet, Camille Claudel, Eugène Delacroix and Chaïm Soutine.

Le Temps Retrouvé reveals Schlumberger’s ability to recognise artistic transformations long before they entered the established canon. She collected works that, in their own time, were often difficult for critics to understand, yet would ultimately play an important role in reshaping the course of modern art.

More info at: https://www.sothebys.com/en/digital-catalogues/le-temps-retrouve-the-schlumberger-collection

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