The most expensive art collection ever put up for auction was displayed by auctioneers on Wednesday. It belonged to Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and is estimated to be worth $1 billion.
The sale of five centuries’ worth of iconic paintings by some of history’s greatest artists will take place next month.
The more than 150 pieces in the collection include creations by Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Jasper Johns, and Vincent Van Gogh.
“I think this is a sale that sort of exhausts superlatives,” said Johanna Flaum, vice-chairman of 20th and 21st Century Art at auctioneers Christie’s.
“This is… the most valuable collection ever sold at auction. It’s really a once-in-a-generation type of event.”
Highlights include “La montagne Sainte-Victoire” by Paul Cezanne, which is expected to fetch at least $120 million, and “Verger avec cypres” by Van Gogh, whose hammer price is estimated at over $100 million.
Allen co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975, becoming fabulously rich as the company grew into the computing behemoth it is today.
By the time he died in 2018 at the age of 65, he had bought some of the most important works created in the last half a millennium.
“The collection is quite wide-ranging, it really makes Paul Allen a unique collector in that sense,” said Flaum.
The Macklowe collection, which brought in $922 million over two tranches, was the previous most expensive collection to be sold at auction.
On November 9 and 10, the auction will take place in New York. According to Allen’s instructions, all money owed to his estate would be used for charitable purposes.
Before the sale, portions of the collection will be on display for public viewing in Los Angeles, London, Paris, Shanghai, and New York.
