Japanese Ink Maker Sells Off Monet, Renoir Paintings as Activists Circle
A gallery assistant poses next to an artwork entitled "Nymphéas" by French artist Claude Monet in London.
Photographer: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty ImagesFacing more pressure from activist investors to increase returns, one Japanese company has turned to its art holdings, raising more than $100 million selling paintings by the likes of Monet and Renoir.
DIC Corp., an ink and resin maker, has a well-known collection of art, and some of the works are very valuable. It sold Claude Monet’s 1907 masterpiece “Nymphéas,” for about $45.5 million at a Christie’s auction Monday in New York. Christie’s estimated earlier that it could sell for $40 million to $60 million.