Waterloo Bridge, Overcast Weather, a view of London's River Thames painted by Claude Monet, sold for £17.9 million ($38 million Cdn) Monday at Christie's auction house in London.

An anonymous telephone bidder bought the brooding view of the Thames, one of a series Monet painted from the Savoy Hotel in the early 20th century.

The price was more than double the pre-sale estimate and the second highest for the French Impressionist painter.

In 1998, a Monet sold at auction for £20 million at Sotheby's.

Another Monet, the water-lily painting Les Arceaux de Roses, Givenchy, sold for £8.98 million ($19 million Cdn) on Monday.

Monday's sale of impressionist and modern art begins a week of high-profile auctions in London.

Monet's Nympheas is for sale at Sotheby's on Tuesday with an estimated price of £10 to £15 million.

On Wednesday, Christie's holds a contemporary art sale that includes Lucian Freud's portrait of Bruce Bernard, one the most important Freud works ever to appear at auction.