A painting of water lilies by French impressionist Claude Monet is expected to fetch up to 40 million pounds when it is auctioned off in London.

The painting, will star among dozens of modern masterpieces this month in what is being billed as the most valuable art auction ever held in the city.

Painted in 1906, the work is part of the French Impressionist’s iconic Nympheas series and was included in his historic exhibition in Paris three years later.

A painting by Claude Monet, which is said to have started the new trend of ‘Impressionism’ with its colour-filled canvas, built with darting brushstrokes, is to go under the hammer next month.

The painting, Dans La Prairie, painted in 1876 and first shown at an exhibition in Paris in 1877, features the artist’s wife Camille almost submerged in a flower-strewn field in Argenteuil, to the north of Paris.

Monet’s skill in capturing the scene even bedazzled his contemporary, Paul Cezanne.

This $400 million super-yacht was built for a Russian oligarch, Andrey Melnichenko, 37, who is worth $9.2 billion and was ranked 172 on the Forbes list of the world’s richest people.

There is a large master suite as well as six luxury cabins for up to 14 guests and enough room for 42 crew members.

Designed by Philippe Stark, the 400ft long superyacht is said to have its own discotheque featuring a glass roof which is situated directly under the swimming pool.

Both Sotheby’s and Christie’s are holding significant Impressionist and Modern evening sales in London this week. “We’re seeing a very strong market for top quality Impressionist paintings this summer,” the vice chairman of Impressionist & Modern Art Worldwide at Sotheby’s, Helena Newman, said.

On Wednesday, Sotheby’s will put up Monet’s “La Plage à Trouville” expected to fetch between $14 million and $20 million. “It’s an iconic work,” Ms. Newman said. “Monet was exploring the effects of the wind and the light on the water, all quintessentially Impressionist effects.”

Monet completed his painting in 1870 while vacationing with his wife and son at the tony French resort town of Trouville.

Paintings by some of the world’s most famous artists have been stolen by an armed gang from a museum in Zurich.

Four oil paintings worth more than 112,000,000 Euros by Cezanne, Degas, van Gogh and Monet were taken in the weekend robbery from the E.G. Buehrle museum.

A police statement said three robbers wearing ski masks and dark clothing entered the museum half-an-hour before closing on Sunday.