Monet painting auctioned for £11m

The work captures a moment in a meadow north of Paris

Dans La Prairie, an oil painting by Claude Monet, has sold for more than £11m at a London auction, but fell short of its estimated price of £15m.

The image of his wife, Camille, reading in a field of wild flowers sold for £11,241,250, Christie's said.

The artist's La Promenade d'Argenteuil, which had been expected to fetch £5m, failed to find a buyer.

Paintings by Renoir and Matisse also failed to reach reserve prices in the sale of Impressionist and Modern art.

Sales fluctuations

Paul Gaugin's Les Dindons, Pont Aven, just managed to make its reserve of £2m.

But other works exceeded their estimates, including Modigliani's dual portrait Les deux filles which sold for £6.5m - more than £1m above expectations.

It was the first time that the painting had been put up for auction.

A Henry Moore sculpture, Reclining Mother and Child, also fetched more than the predicted £2m.

The auction was seen as a further test of the art market's health in difficult economic conditions.

Last November, a number of art sales in New York caused concern when several high profile works failed to sell.

Monet's Le Bassin Aux Nympheas sold for more than £40m in June 2008.