WRecognized by George Seurat, Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, to name just a few: A collection can hardly be more top-class than the art collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen, who died in 2018. The expectations for the auction of 150 works of art from the estate, which will now be auctioned in New York in two lots, were correspondingly high. The auction could bring in more than a billion dollars, it was said in advance, more than the collections of the Rockefellers or Macklowes. It would be a new record. The result is already higher after the auction of the first batch: With fees, the “Paul G. Allen Collection, Part I” achieved a whopping 1.5 billion dollars at Christie’s. No lot remained unsold. 20 works alone achieved new top prices for works by the respective artists.
At the top is the pointillist Georges Seurat with the previously estimated lot – “more than 100 million dollars – provided with the highest estimate: his oil painting “Les Poseuses, Ensemble” from 1888 changed hands for 149 million dollars. One of Paul Cezanne’s famous views of the Montagne Saint-Victoire, painted between 1888 and 1890, rose to almost $138 million including buyer’s premium; Paul Gauguin’s 1899 painting of three Tahitian women, Maternité II, grossed $105 million; Claude Monet’s view of “Waterloo Bridge” (1899/1903) at 64.5 million.
Changed hands for 138 million dollars (with fees): “La montagne Sainte-Victoire” by Paul Cézanne.
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Image: Christies/Paul G. Allen Estate.
As a collector, Allen was not only interested in classic modern masterpieces of museum quality. He also made trips to other eras. A tondo by the Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli, the “Madonna des Magnficat”, was sold for almost 48.5 million dollars with buyer’s premium, as were numerous other works, well above estimate. A picture of flowers painted by the American artist Georgia O’Keeffe in 1927 was also in demand. Estimated at $6 to $8 million, it was pushed by bidders to $26.7 million plus premium. This made it the most expensive painting by a female artist from the 60 lots on offer, which included only three works by female artists.
Grossed almost $48.5 million: Sandro Botticelli’s “Madonna des Magnificat” owned by Paul G. Allen
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Image: Chrstie’s
A photograph by Edward Steichen showing the Flatiron Building in New York also set a record. The 1905 print fetched $11.8 million in fees, far exceeding the previously estimated $2 million, and is now the second most expensive photograph ever sold at auction. Allen auction proceeds will go to charity. It is still unclear how high the sum that will be collected for her will ultimately be: the second part of the auction with 95 other works of art is still pending.
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