The late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s artwork is about to go on sale and is anticipated to be the most expensive sale of all time.
Key Details
- Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen was an intensive art collector with a collection of paintings from some of the biggest artists of all time.
- Part of his collection is being auctioned off and is anticipated to be the most expensive sale of all time and will most likely bring in over $1 billion dollars.
- The auction will take place at british auction house Christie’s on November 9 and 10 and will feature just a fraction of Allen’s impressive collection while still being the most expensive auction of all time.
Why it’s news
The late Paul Allen was an art collector and had an extremely impressive collection that is not going up for auction at Christie’s art auction house.
The sale will feature paintings from Botticelli, Binion, Monet, Lichtenstein, Van Gogh, Calder, Picasso and many more outstanding pieces.
“This sale exhausts superlatives,” says vice chairman of 20th and 21st century art at Christie’s, Max Carter. “It’s historic in terms of the figures, historic in terms of the philanthropy and historic in terms of the masterpiece quality.”
The collection is expected to break record sales and Christie’s has guaranteed it will bring in at least $1 billion with the proceeds going to charities that have not yet been disclosed.
Another record that the collection has broken is that it includes three paintings that are worth over $100 million a piece.
Although the sale is expected to break records—it isn’t even Allen’s whole collection. He still owned many pieces that aren’t going up for auction; the ones heading to Christie’s are just a fraction of his amazing collection.
“He took so much joy in the process of collecting,” says associate director of art finance at Allen’s investment management company—Vulcan, associate director of art finance at Allen’s investment management company, Vulcan Gunn. “Seeing the artwork, discovering it, and then living with the work and learning about it. He had a lot of interests in life, but I think that is what has stuck with me all this time: How much he enjoyed his collection and how much he wanted to share it with others.”
