‘Mornings on the Seine’ Painting by Claude Monet Could Fetch Nearly $23 Million

Christie’s will sell a painting from Claude Monet’s Matinées sur la Seine series at its evening sale of 20th- and 21st-century art on March 7 in London for an estimated price of up to £18 million (US$22.7 million).

Matinée sur la Seine, temps net (Mornings on the Seine, clear weather) , 1897, was consigned by an unnamed collector who bought it in May 1978 at a Sotheby’s auction in New York for US$330,000, according to Christie’s. The painting is among early examples of Monet’s practice of serialising specific scenes, “a technique that would ultimately transform his art,” Christie’s said in a news release.

In this example, Monet painted the river Seine during summer mornings in 1896 and 1897. “Tracing the sun as it passes over the scene, from the first rays of light at dawn, to the full brilliance of the sun at mid-morning, this extraordinary sequence of works was conceived as a connected, interrelated sequence of canvases,” Christie’s said.

A viewer can see the sun rising across the canvases when they are exhibited as a group, the auction house said. It was after Monet painted the Creuse valley in central France at different times of day in 1889 that he returned to the idea of serialization. A painting from the Creuse series, Prairie fleurie à Giverny , 1890, also will be offered during the March 7 evening sale. Christie’s has not placed a value on the work yet, which is being consigned from a Japanese collection.

Another example from the Seine series, also painted in 1897, sold at Christie’s in November 2017 from the collection of Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass. Titled simply Matinée sur la Seine , the painting sold for nearly US$23.4 million. Matinée sur la Seine, temps net has not been seen publicly since 1990, when it toured in an exhibition titled “Monet in the ‘90s: The Series Paintings,” which opened at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston before traveling to the Art Institute in Chicago, and the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

The painting will be on view in New York from Friday through Wednesday, before being shown in Hong Kong from Feb. 21-23 and then in London, March 1-7.

LONDON— Anglo American on Friday rejected a $39 billion takeover proposal from rival BHP, saying the bid “significantly undervalues” the company and setting the stage for a potential bidding war.

London-listed Anglo American said the unsolicited proposal, which was made earlier this month and which became public this week, features an unattractive structure that is too uncertain and complex .

Anglo American Chairman Stuart Chambers said the company stands to benefit from its portfolio of assets, including copper, that are likely to experience growth from trends around the energy transition. BHP’s bid, Chambers said, is opportunistic and dilutive for shareholders.

BHP’s all-share offer valued Anglo American at about $38.8 billion, and would have been contingent upon Anglo American spinning off shareholdings in two South African-listed units. The proposal represented a premium of about 31%, not including the South African-listed units, based on Tuesday’s closing prices.

Some analysts had predicted Anglo would find the bid too low and are expecting BHP to return with another. BHP has until May 22 to make a firm offer, though the deadline can be extended. Industry participants expect other large miners to also take a run at Anglo, whose share price has dropped since 2022 as lower commodity prices have ripped through the industry.

A tie-up between BHP and Anglo American, which would be the largest mining deal on record, would illustrate the growing importance of copper, a metal essential to clean-energy products , to a sector that has long relied on Chinese industrialisation to boost profits.

Copper represents some 30% of Anglo American’s output, while BHP counts a majority stake in Chile’s Escondida, the world’s biggest copper mine, among its assets. BHP bought Australian copper-and-gold miner Oz Minerals for $6.34 billion in May last year, representing its biggest acquisition since 2011.

Copper prices are up some 15% so far this year, reflecting expectations that demand for the metal will rise as the world decarbonises and supply will be constrained. Electric vehicles and wind farms use copper in much greater quantities than gasoline-powered cars and coal-fired power stations.

Anglo American has been reviewing its assets in recent months, and has held early conversations with potential buyers for its storied De Beers diamond unit, which it values at more than $7 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Activist firm Elliott Investment Management holds a stake in Anglo American worth roughly $1 billion, accumulated over several months and before BHP’s move on the miner, according to a person familiar with the matter. The firm is widely known for its campaigns to push companies for change to boost their stock prices. Its view of the Anglo American holding couldn’t be learned.

That said, a jump in Anglo American’s share price following BHP’s takeover offer indicates Elliott has already profited from its holding, potentially reducing any incentive for it to take any action until the outcome of BHP’s bid becomes clearer.

Anglo’s stock on Friday traded above the implied value of BHP’s offer, indicating the market expects a higher bid to emerge.

‘Mornings on the Seine’ Painting by Claude Monet Could Fetch Nearly $23 Million

U.K.-listed mining giant’s chairman says the proposal undervalues the company