Microsoft cofounder Allen’s art collection hits $1.5 billion at auction
The art collection of Paul Allen, the late cofounder of Microsoft, hit a sales total of $1.506 billion at a Christie’s New York auction, setting the record for the most valuable single-owner art collection ever sold in a single day.
This broke the previous record for the most expensive collection ever auctioned, set by the Harry and Linda Macklowe collection auctioned at Sotheby’s for $922 million.
On Wednesday, five paintings passed the $100 million mark, including Georges Seurat’s “Les Poseuses, Ensemble,” which sold for $149.2 million.
Paul Cezanne’s ‘La Montagne Sainte-Victoire’ sold for $137.8 million.
Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Verger avec Cypres’ sold for $117 million and set a new record for van Gogh at auction, last set in 1990. Paul Gaugin’s ‘Maternite II’ sold for $105.7 million.
Lucian Freud’s ‘Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau)’, considered one of his biggest masterpieces, sold for $86.3 million. One of Claude Monet’s ‘Waterloo Bridge’ paintings went for $64.5 million.
All the proceeds will go to the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.
Ninety-five more artworks from Mr Allen’s collection will go to auction on Thursday as part of the two-day sale, though Forbes notes that they are estimated to fetch lower prices than those sold on Wednesday.
A sculpture by Claes Oldenburg, ‘Typewriter Eraser, Scale X’, is expected to sell for as high as $7 million.
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