The great art auctions inhabit a territory of commonplaces in which each bid is always historical in relation to the previous one.
Superlatives and records follow one another, due to the importance of the works and the monetary commitment of the bidders, as has been demonstrated by the sales
boom
after the pandemic, a time during which the market, unscathed by global turmoil, generated 65,000 million dollars in 2021 alone, according to the annual evaluation carried out by Art Basel and USB.
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Millionaire Paul Allen has no one to inherit
But Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's collection, which Christie's is putting up for auction in November, is on another level.
The prestigious house has just announced it as "the largest and most exceptional sale in the history of auctions".
The exaggeration seems justified in this case: it is made up of 150 works of art, spanning a period of 500 years, from Botticelli to Roy Lichtenstein, valued at one billion dollars, the amount of whose sale will go entirely to charitable causes.
In the collection of Allen, who died in 2018, there are masterpieces of painting and two predominant genres, landscapes and figuration.
After founding Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975, his artistic revelation came during a trip to London, in which he discovered Turner's seascapes and Lichtenstein's rabid pop during a visit to the Tate Gallery.
A notable philanthropist, he launched initiatives such as the Museum of Pop Culture, in 2000, in a building designed by the architect Frank Gehry in Seattle, or the scientific research institute that bears his name, specializing in neurology and immunology, in 2003, also in Seattle, a city that helped boost its investments and where it financed public art projects and local artists.
According to sources from his foundation, who underline his broad humanist profile,
'La montagne Sainte-Victoire' (1888-1890), by Paul Cézanne, one of the paintings in the collection.
An avid collector for decades, Allen began publicly sharing pieces from his collection in the late 1990s through dozens of often anonymous loans to museums around the world.
He also put on exhibits of part of his collection such as the
Seeing Nature
show in 2016, which toured the United States.
It collected 39 landscapes of famous authors such as Brueghel the Younger, Van Gogh, Hopper and Klimt, which allowed us to appreciate the development of the genre throughout the history of painting.
In 2006 he had presented
Double Take: from Monet to Lichtenstein
in his museum , which contrasted Impressionist works with those of old masters of painting.
“The inspirational figure of Paul Allen, the extraordinary quality and diversity of the works, and the dedication of all proceeds to philanthropy create a unique combination that will make the sale of the Paul G. Allen Collection an event of unprecedented magnitude. precedents”, underlines Guillaume Cerutti, executive director of Christie's, in a statement.
“Paul's life was guided by his desire to make this world a better place.
We believe that presenting his collection at auction and giving a wider audience the opportunity to discover it will be a fitting tribute to celebrate his vision and his legacy,” he adds.
The Allen Collection auction will undoubtedly be the highlight of the fall art market season.
At the auction, which will be held at New York's Rockefeller Center on a date to be determined,
Paul Cézanne 's
The Mountain of St. Victoria is likely to top well over $100 million.
Or the
collage
by Jasper Johns from 1960, more than 50 million.
The art market will continue to set records – such as those of Warhol's Marilyn auctioned by Christie's in May for 195 million, or the 922 million obtained by the Marlowe collection at Sotheby's – but the dimension of Allen's collection will leave its mark.
In the words of Jody Allen, sister of the financier and executor of her legacy, “her collection reflects the diversity of her interests, with its own mystique and beauty.
These works mean a great deal to many, and will generate tremendous value for philanthropic activities in accordance with Paul's wishes."
