Art

Paul Allen’s art sale is highest ever at $1.5bn. Here are some of the record-setting works

Works by Cezanne, van Gogh and Picasso were among those owned by late Microsoft co-founder, with proceeds donated to philanthropic causes

Georges Seurat’s Les Poseuses Ensemble (Petite version) (1888) is auctioned during the Paul Allen sale at Christie’s in Rockefeller Center in New York. Photograph: Jeenah Moon/The New York Times
Thu Nov 10 2022 - 10:01

Five dozen works from Paul Cezanne, Vincent van Gogh and other revered artists brought in $1.5 billion (€1.5 billion) on Wednesday at an auction of part of the vast collection of paintings and sculpture amassed by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

The total represented the highest amount collected at a single art auction, according to the auction house Christie’s in New York. Proceeds will be donated to philanthropic causes in accordance with the wishes of Mr Allen, who died in 2018.

Several of the winning bids smashed previous records for individual artists and many exceeded the expected sales prices estimated by Christie's.

Georges Seurat’s 'Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version)' from 1888 sold for $149.2 million including fees. Photograph: Christie’s via The New York Times

Among the priciest works sold was Pointillist pioneer Georges Seurat’s Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version), an 1888 oil on canvas depicting three nude women. It fetched $149.2 million including fees, a record for a Seurat piece.

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Cezanne’s La Montagne Sainte-Victoire, a colourful landscape painted from 1888-1890, sold for $137.8 million, another record. And a Gustav Klimt 1903 painting, Birch Forest, set the high mark for a Klimt work, selling for $104.6 million.

Other notable sales included the highest price ever for a van Gogh painting. The artist’s Verger avec cypres sold for $117.2 million. Paul Gaugin’s 1899 oil on burlap Maternite II fetched $105.7 million.

Paintings from Georgia O'Keefe, Claude Monet, David Hockney, Andrew Wyeth and Pablo Picasso also sold, along with sculptures by Alexander Calder and Max Ernst.

A 1905 print of a photograph by Edward Steichen, The Flatiron, sold for $11.8 million, a record for a Steichen work and nearly four times Christie’s highest estimate.

Additional pieces from Mr Allen’s collection will be offered at auction on Thursday. – Reuters

'Hearing', one of a set of pictures for 'The Five Senses' by Jan Brueghel the Younger. Photograph: Christie's/The New York Times
Jasper Johns’s 'Map'. Photograph: Christie's/The New York Times
'Small False Start' by Jasper Johns. Photograph: Christie's/The New York Times
Georgia O’Keeffe’s 'White Rose with Larkspur No 1'. Photograph: Christie's/The New York Times
'Concarneau, calme du matin (Opus no. 219, larghetto)' by French artist Paul Signac. Photograph: Christie's/New York Times
'The Conversation' by David Hockney. Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP via Getty Images
'La Montagne Sainte-Victoire' by French artist Paul Cezanne. Photograph: Christie’s/Courtesy of the Paul G Allen Estate/AP
A person views 'Large Interior W11 (after Watteau)' by British artist Lucian Freud, during a preview of the sale at Christie's Auction House in New York on October 31st. Photograph: Sarah Yenesel/EPA
Gustav Klimt’s 'Birch Forest' from 1903. Photograph: Christie's/New York Times
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