He painted Au jardin, la famille de l’artiste in 1875, a year after first introducing his “plein air” – or “open air” oil-on-canvas style – to the world. The artwork, which has not appeared on the market for nearly four decades, depicts Monet’s family enjoying the calm and quiet atmosphere of their garden. Although Monet adored gardens, it was not until he moved to Argenteuil, north-west Paris, in 1872 that he focused on the subject for his work.

       He once explained: “Gardening was something I learned in my youth when I was unhappy. I perhaps owe it to flowers that I became a painter.”

       Au jardin will be sold from a private collection on November 11 at Christie’s New York with estimates of ￡8.8million to ￡13million.

       However this is some way off the record Monet auction price, achieved by his 1890 Meules [Haystacks] canvas that went for ￡82million at Sotheby’s in 2019.

       The most expensive painting yet auctioned was Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, painted around 1500, which sold for ￡350million in 2017.