The Grand Canal Auction History

Claude Monet, The Grand Canal (1908) was painted in Venice during the artist’s October–November 1908 campaign and is catalogued as Wildenstein CR W1736, a reference explicitly linked to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco canvas.[1]

In March 1912 it was purchased directly from Monet by Galerie Bernheim‑Jeune and Durand‑Ruel, acting jointly.[2] By October 1912 it had been acquired by the noted Welsh collectors Gwendoline and Margaret Davies, with the Arts Council record identifying this exact painting (CR W1736).[1] The work later entered the collection of Osgood Hooker and was gifted in 1960 to the California Palace of the Legion of Honor (now the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco), accession 1960.29.[3][4] Publicly available sources do not specify the precise path between the Davies sisters and Hooker.

Monet’s 1908 Venetian campaign has long been regarded as a crucial late chapter in his career, and the series’ market standing was shaped early by its 1912 dealer presentation and distribution through Bernheim‑Jeune and Durand‑Ruel.[2] The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s The Grand Canal (W1736) never appears to have been publicly auctioned; instead, it moved from Monet to dealers in 1912, to the Davies sisters by October that year, and later entered a U.S. museum as a 1960 gift.[1][2][3][4]

Although this specific canvas is off-market, closely related Venetian views demonstrate the category’s strength. Monet’s Le Grand Canal realized £23.7 million at Sotheby’s London in 2015,[7] and Le Palais Ducal achieved £27.5 million in 2019.[8] In 2022, Le Grand Canal et Santa Maria della Salute sold for $56.6 million in New York, a record for a Venice view by Monet at auction.[9] These results place the Venice series among Monet’s top late motifs, though still below the artist’s all-time record for Meules (Haystacks) at $110.7 million in 2019, a benchmark for the very highest tier of his market.[10]

Institutional attention further underpins the work’s significance. The FAMSF canvas was included in the National Gallery’s Monet & Architecture (2018), reflecting active scholarship and loan demand,[2][5] and has been announced among key works for Monet and Venice at the Brooklyn Museum (2025–26) and the de Young Museum (2026).[6] Together, the 1912 dealer provenance, distinguished early private ownership, and sustained museum interest indicate enduring importance within Monet’s market, even as this particular painting remains outside the auction arena.