Left: 'Nymphéas' by Claude Monet
A spectacular example of Claude Monet's famous water lily series has gone on display at Sotheby's, London.
This is the first time that 'Nympheas', painted in 1906, has been seen in public since it was first loaned to an exhibition in New York in 1925.
Although the painting has been described through earlier catalogues, it has never been published in colour, so the re-emergence of the work is of great artistic historical significance.
The painting is to be auctioned in June and experts estimate it could reach up to fifteen million pounds.
Talking to The Guardian, Andrew Strauss, Head of Sotheby's Impressionist department in Paris, said: "It is in pristine condition, it has been beautifully looked after, and it is a picture I simply cannot imagine anyone not liking."
Monet moved into the rural town of Giverny in 1833. He transformed his garden and by the end of the 1890s had turned it into the beautiful horticultural delight that can be viewed through his work, and today by visitors to Giverny.
The lily pond became a predominant feature in the garden and the stimulus for many of his paintings.
The 1906 Nympheas is of particular importance among the water lily collection. Unlike the other paintings where the Japanese bridge can be viewed, Nympheas is the first in the collection that concentrates solely on the pond, producing a more abstract impression of the glistening water and lilies.
If by some evil twist of fate you don't have £15 million burning a hole in your pocket you can always catch sight of a Monet at one of the following institutions:
