An art collection by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sold for a record $1.5 billion, with a flood of records for works by Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin, Seurat and Klimt.
The auction set a record for the most valuable single-owner art collection ever sold at auction, Christie’s said.
The most expensive collection sold at auction to date was the Macklowe collection, whose two tranches brought in 922 million US dollars.
The
five centuries of touchstone work have featured some of the most important creators in history.
“Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version)” by pointilist pioneer Georges Seurat, an oil on canvas from 1888 depicting three naked women, raised 149.2 million US dollars, a record for a Seurat piece.
Cézanne’s “La Montagne Sainte-Victoire” sold for 137.8 million US dollars, another record, and a painting by Gustav Klimt from 1903, “Birch Forest,” set the climax for a Klimt work that sold for 104.6 million US dollars.
The highest price ever for a Van Gogh painting was also achieved; the artist’s “Verger avec cyprès” sold for $117.2 million.
“I think this is a sale that exhausts superlatives,” said Johanna Flaum, Deputy Chair for 20th and 21st Century Art at Christie’s auctioneers.
“This is the most valuable collection ever sold at auction. It is truly an event that takes place once in a generation.”
Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975 and became fabulously rich as the company grew into the computer giant it is today. When he died in 2018 at the age of 65, he had bought some of the most important works created in the last half millennium.
An art collection by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sold for a record $1.5 billion, with a flood of records for works by Van Gogh, Cezanne, Gauguin, Seurat and Klimt.
The auction set a record for the most valuable single-owner art collection ever sold at auction, Christie’s said.
The most expensive collection sold at auction to date was the Macklowe collection, whose two tranches brought in 922 million US dollars.
The
five centuries of touchstone work have featured some of the most important creators in history.
“Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version)” by pointilist pioneer Georges Seurat, an oil on canvas from 1888 depicting three naked women, raised 149.2 million US dollars, a record for a Seurat piece.
Cézanne’s “La Montagne Sainte-Victoire” sold for 137.8 million US dollars, another record, and a painting by Gustav Klimt from 1903, “Birch Forest,” set the climax for a Klimt work that sold for 104.6 million US dollars.
The highest price ever for a Van Gogh painting was also achieved; the artist’s “Verger avec cyprès” sold for $117.2 million.
“I think this is a sale that exhausts superlatives,” said Johanna Flaum, Deputy Chair for 20th and 21st Century Art at Christie’s auctioneers.
“This is the most valuable collection ever sold at auction. It is truly an event that takes place once in a generation.”
Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975 and became fabulously rich as the company grew into the computer giant it is today. When he died in 2018 at the age of 65, he had bought some of the most important works created in the last half millennium.