Whe Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has collected works of art that could become the most expensive private collection ever auctioned in the world: 150 works from the collection of the American tech mogul, who died in 2018, are to be called up at Christie’s in New York in the fall. Allen’s interests ranged from the Renaissance to the present day. It brought together works by Canaletto, Botticelli and Jan Brueghel, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Édouard Manet, Paul Gauguin and Gustav Klimt through to Marc Rothko, Edward Hopper and David Hockney.
Only a few significant works have been sold from Allen’s holdings to date: in 2016, for example, Gerhard Richter’s painting “Dϋsenjäger” from 1953, which fetched $25.5 million at Phillips.
Among the highlights of Allen’s collection: Paul Cézanne, “La montagne Sainte-Victoire”, estimated at $100 million
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Image: dpa
Allen’s collection is valued at more than $1 billion. This would allow her to bring in a larger sum at her auction than the previous record auction of private collections: The compulsory auction of 65 works from the collection of Harry and Linda Macklowe, which was ordered by the court in the course of a divorce war, lasted in two tranches at Sotheby’s in New York until May of this year Raised $922.2 million. In 2018, Christie’s auction of the inherited collection of art objects belonging to David Rockefeller with around 1,500 objects achieved a turnover of 835 million dollars. Now the billion mark could be exceeded. Allen auction proceeds will go to charity.
Paul Allen had repeatedly engaged in philanthropy during his lifetime. He founded the non-profit Paul G Allen Family Foundation and supported the University of Washington with donations, among other things.
