flower image: Art in Bloom At the Season's Sales

Spring and summer auctions bring nature themes, from landscape masterpieces to flower-shaped jewels to sculptures made for the garden. Here's a guide to the greener side of collecting.
In full bloom or wilting, flowers have long inspired great works. On Tuesday, Christie's International PLC offers one of French impressionist Claude Monet's famous images of his lily pond in Giverny, "Nymphéas, Temps Gris" (1907), expected to sell for $10 million to $15 million. Monet, a passionate gardener, built the lavish lily pond that he painted over and over in the 25 years before he died in 1926 at the age of ...

By Margaret Studer