Auction of the Century" announced for November
About the sale at Christie's in New York of the collection of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, estimated at more than one billion dollars.
It seems a long time ago that the most important French art collection, that of Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint-Laurent, was described as the "sale of the century". It took place at Christie's in 2009 (not 2006 as Beaux Arts Magazine reported in its October 2022 issue). The artworks for sale had reached 373.5 million euros. A sculpture by Romanian artist Constantin Brancusi sold for 29.1 million euros (including fees), a perfume bottle in a cardboard box by Marcel Duchamp went for 8.9 million euros (again including fees), while Paul Klee's painting Gartenfigur went for 3.9 million euros, 5 million, and Piet Mondrian's Composition with Blue, Red, Yellow and Black and Matisse's Cuckoo Clocks, Blue and Pink Carpet achieved record prices of €21.5 million and €35.9 million respectively. Only a painting by Picasso, Musical Instruments on a Pedestal Table, did not generate enough excitement to find a buyer... even though it had been estimated to be the most expensive of the 730 pieces offered for sale. This goes to show that even in the art market, tastes can still be more surprising than prices.
Since this event, the London-based international auction house has broken the record with the legendary Rockefeller Collection in 2018. Once again dubbed "the auction of the century", the sale of paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Monet, Signac, etc., acquired by David and Peggy Rockefeller, but also by the father of the billionaire who died at 101, the American philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr., totalled 832.5 million dollars in 2018. A figure that will be beaten again in 2021, but this time under the gavel of Sotheby's, the other world leader in art auctions, in New York and in two times, when the American tycoon Harry Macklove had to part with his formidable collection of modern and contemporary art after his divorce. The iconic paintings by Rothko, Giacometti and Cy Twombly were dispersed worldwide, selling for a total of $922 million.
As you can see, the billion dollar mark for a prestigious collection of artworks for sale is not far off. And predictions are rife for the auction, announced for November by Christie's, of the American collection of Paul Allen, the co-founder with Bill Gates of Microsoft in 1975, who succumbed to cancer of the lymphatic system in 2018. The volcano-loving businessman, computer scientist and entrepreneur, as well as being the notorious multi-billionaire who built himself a private spaceship, was also a discerning art collector. He was only 65 when he died, but he was already known to have purchased a version of Seurat's Les Poseuses from the family of German art dealer and gallery owner Heinz Berggruen. This version would be considered more important than the painting in the possession of the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. We can therefore already assume the importance of its market value...
The hundred and fifty or so works of art to be sold from Paul Allen's estate have not yet all been revealed by the international auction house. What we do know is that they will be sold for the benefit of philanthropic causes dear to the man who gave away 2.65 million dollars throughout his life, notably in the field of biosciences, the defence of the oceans in particular and the environment in general... And that this sale could well become the largest in the history of auctions, since it is estimated... at one billion dollars.
One can imagine how Christie's had to compete with ingenuity to beat Sotheby's in this case. It was François Pinault's house that won the auction of this exceptional collection, which was highly publicised, and which did not spoil anything, against Patrick Drahi's. 150 masterpieces covering 500 years of art history, from the 17th to the 21st century, which is quite an achievement! We are expecting mainly masterpieces, such as Botticelli, Canaletto or Brueghel the Younger, and many impressionist, modern and post-war paintings, "such as a painting by Paul Cézanne representing his flagship subject, the Sainte-Victoire mountain near Aix-en-Provence, estimated at more than 100 million dollars", says journalist Armelle Malvoisin in her article for Beaux Arts Magazine. "Another highlight is a 1960 canvas by American abstract expressionist painter Jasper Johns, expected to fetch over $50 million."
Although these are the only two lots that Christie's unveiled at the end of August, there is also Gauguin, Seurat, Turner, Klimt, Monet, Manet, Renoir, as well as Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney... Enough to make your mouth water! For Paul Allen, admittedly a passionate art lover himself, did not use his immense fortune to collect such exceptional works of art for his own benefit. Since the late 1990s, he had regularly lent them to museums all over the world, so that they could be seen by as many people as possible. Hence this possible valuation of artists whose work he liked enough to be part of his personal collection.
According to Christie's, "Paul Allen's visionary personality, the extraordinary quality and diversity of the works in his collection, and the allocation of the sums raised to philanthropic works make this sale an unprecedented event. Indeed, as Armelle Malvoisin concludes, it is a winning combination. Buying a work of art at auction rather than in an art gallery already gives the excitement of suspense, which builds up to the last hammer blow. But investing in art is also often profitable, both in terms of taxation and the positive fluctuation of the art market. Even if all the experts will officially recommend buying for pleasure above all, as art serves to satisfy the emotional needs of every human being, the fact remains that buying art is also a financial investment. Especially when it comes to the names mentioned above. So if, on top of that, they do a good deed... wealthy amateurs will really have no reason to deprive themselves!