Sotheby’s has confirmed the buyer of Monet’s “Bassin aux nymphéas, les rosiers,” which sold for $20.41 million at the firm’s May 5 evening sale of Impressionist and Modern art in New York City  — China’s Dalian Wanda Group.

Unseen in the auction market for more than two decades, “Bassin aux nymphéas, les rosiers” represents the artist at the height of his mature style and ranks as one of the most important examples among the boldly modern works of Monet’s career, when Monet elevated the tenets of Impressionism to new heights.

Guo Qingxiang, who is in charge of the art collection of Wanda Group, said, “Dalian Wanda Group has been actively collecting Impressionist and Modern art in recent years. Since the purchase of Picasso’s ‘Claude et Paloma’ in 2013, we have been devoted to collecting original and important works representative of key developments in art history. We are thrilled to have acquired at Sotheby’s New York Monet’s ‘Bassin aux nymphéas, les rosiers,’ which was unseen in the market for more than two decades. Wanda Group will continue to enrich its collection with works by the most significant artists in the world and remain devoted to raising the awareness and knowledge of mainland Chinese collectors in Western art.”

One of only three views, as well as the largest, of rose-covered arches by Monet, the work ranks among the best of Monet’s depictions of the brilliant, sun-struck expanse of his fabled water lily pond, according to David Norman, co-head of Sotheby’s worldwide Impressionist and Modern art department. “Having passed through the hands of celebrated dealer and connoisseur Durand-Ruel, and with a sister painting currently in an illustrious American institution, this rare view of rose-covered arches — one of only three views of this subject — is testimony to Monet’s groundbreaking artistic innovations in the early decades of the Twentieth Century.”