Rodin gift to Monet sold for 108,000 euros

A small sculpture given by Auguste Rodin to Claude Monet was sold at auction in Cannes on Wednesday for 108,000 euros. The two 19th-century artists were born just two days apart and were close friends

Auguste Rodin Netsurf11/Open access

Signed by Rodin and dedicated to "the great master, Claude Monet", the plaster was bought by Paris's Musée Marmottan, where it was recently on show as part of the exhibition Monet Collector.

Besch Cannes tweets about the sale

Une sculpture d’Auguste #Rodin adjugée plus de 100 000 euros. Elle rejoint le @MuseeMarmottan pour le plus grand plaisir des futurs visiteurs !https://t.co/1uHng0AKwH

  BESCH CANNES AUCTION (@BeschCannes) 16 août 2018

It depicts two Bacchantes, female devotees of the Greek god of wine, Bacchus, embracing,

It fetched more than its estimated price of 80-100,000 euros.

"A subject of unlimited inspiration allowing the expression of inebriation, ecstasy, overwhelming passions and other taboos," according to the Besch Cannes auction house.

Drawings by Monet and Boudin

The piece, one of the few sculptures in Monet's collection, was among several artworks sold by the great impressionist's descendants on Wednesday.

Others included nine drawings by Monet himself, some of which sold for 20,000 euros, and a paintbox that the family believes was he used.

A drawing by French impressionist Eugène Boudin sold for 7,800 euros, while an oil painting, Eucalyptus, by Camille Pissaro's son, Lucien, fetched more than 33,000 euros.