Microsoft co-founder Allen’s legendary art collection breaks all auction records. Already on the first day, Christie’s raised more than 1.5 billion dollars. Works by Van Gogh, Cezanne and Gustav Klimt find new owners. The proceeds will be donated.
The auction of the art collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen set a record on the first day: the prices achieved at the auction at Christie’s in New York exceeded the one billion dollar mark after just a few hours. Five works alone have sold for more than $100 million each. At the request of the billionaire who died in 2018, the proceeds of the two-day auction are to be donated.
The most expensive painting of the evening was “Les Poseuses, Ensemble (petite version)” by the French painter Georges Seurat. The 1888 work is considered the pinnacle of pointillism and changed hands for $149 million. Paul Cézanne’s “La Montagne Sainte-Victoire” achieved 137 million dollars – and at the same time a record for the French painter. Three paintings by Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Gustav Klimt also changed hands for over 100 million dollars.
Although only 60 of a total of 150 works from Allen’s collection were auctioned on Wednesday, the sum already surpassed the previous auction record for a private art collection: In the spring, Sotheby’s achieved 922 million dollars for the collection of the US couple Harry and Linda Macklowe.
The billion mark was exceeded with lot number 32, Alberto Giacometti’s sculpture “Woman from Venice III”, which changed hands for 25 million dollars. Other works by Max Ernst, Jasper Jones, Diego Rivera and Lucian Freud achieved top prices. According to preliminary calculations, the first day of the auction alone brought in around 1.5 billion euros.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen died of cancer in 2018 at the age of 65. He founded the company with Bill Gates in 1975. In 1983 he left the software giant due to ill health and increasing tensions with Gates, but remained active as an entrepreneur and investor.
By the time he died, Allen had built up a huge art collection, from which he loaned numerous well-known works to museums. He also founded a pop culture museum in his hometown of Seattle. Forbes estimated Allen’s net worth at the time of his death at $20.3 billion. Despite his tensions with Gates, Allen signed his Giving Pledge initiative. In doing so, he committed to donating a large part of his billion-dollar fortune to charity.