Monet's Grainstack fetches $81.4m at Christie's, setting a new auction record for the artist

Someone will buy this, said the auctioneer Andreas Rumbler, through gritted teeth, as opening bids beyond $35m for Claude Monets Meule (Grainstack) (1891) failed to materialise during the Impressionist and Modern art evening sale at Christies yesterday (16 November). The work carried no guarantee and a wave of nervous laughter rippled through the room. But then the bidding began. Over the next 14 minutes, the work inched past its estimate of around $45m and, during the final phone battle betwee