Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s art collection smashes record with $1.5 billion auction

Art handlers hold a painting titled “La montagne Sainte-Victoire” by Paul Cezanne (estimate on request: in excess of $120,000,000) during a photo call to present the highlights from the estate of the philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, Paul G. Allen in London on Oct. 14, 2022.

Sixty works from the Paul G. Allen Collection were sold by Christie's for over a billion dollars on Wednesday.

The night's top seller was Georges Seurat's "Les Poseuses, ensemble", which sold for $150.2 million. Several works sold for three or four times their estimates and several artists set new records at the auction.

The previous record for the most expensive collection ever sold was set by the Harry and Linda Macklowe collection. The sales total for the Allen collection will go up even more on Thursday.

The flurry of eight- and nine-figure sales suggested that the global rich still view masterpiece art as a hedge against inflation and perhaps a safer store of value than the stock market. On the same day as the sale, the Dow fell over 600 points and the price of the virtual currency fell to its lowest level in over a year.

The collection of Paul Allen spanned 500 years. Allen signed the Giving Pledge and left at least half of his fortune to charity.

Allen has an interest in great art and makes great investments. He bought Gustav Klimt's "Birch Forest" for $40 million and it sold for $104 million on Wednesday.

Paul Cezanne’s “La Montagne Sainte-Victoire” is auctioned from Paul Allen’s collection at Christie’s in New York on Nov. 9, 2022.

Cezanne's work "La Montagne Sainte-Victoire" sold for $138 million. A new record for van Gogh was set when his work sold for $117 million, beating the previous record of $90 million. The sale of Paul Gaugin's "Maternite II" was $107 million.

One of Lucian Freud's largest masterpieces sold for $82 million. A Claude Monet painting sold for $65 million.

Christie's specialists bid on the phone for clients in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the U.S., and several works sold for multiples of their estimates. A famous photo by Edward Steichen of New York's Flatiron building sold for $11.2 million, making it the second-most expensive photograph ever sold.

The Andrew Wyeth painting, called "Day Dream", sold for $23.3 million, far above its estimate of $2 million to $3 million. Several of Allen's Old Masters hit eight figures. The Madonna of the Magnificat was sold for $48 million.

Visitors look at a painting titled “Madonna of the Magnificat” by Alessandro Filipepi, called Sandro Botticelli (estimate on request: in excess of $40,000,000) during a photo call to present the highlights from the estate of the philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, Paul G. Allen in London on Oct. 14, 2022.