A Claude Monet painting kept hidden from view for years has just changed hands for a record sum. The work, titled 'Iris', was auctioned by Sotheby's in Paris on Thursday, October 22. The final price came to 50 million euros. That makes it the most expensive lot ever sold on the French auction market. The canvas had spent a long stretch out of sight before resurfacing for the sale. Buyers keep paying exceptional amounts for impressionist works, and Monet's flower paintings sit near the top of that demand. The Paris result shows the centre of gravity in the art trade is not London and New York alone anymore.