A history-making night: Paul Allen's art collection garners record US$1.5B at Christie's

By: Kayan Wong | Photography: Justin Cheng
10 Nov, 2022 | Thu | 15:37
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In a packed, electrifying saleroom at Christie's New York on Wednesday night, auction history was made: 60 incredible artworks once owned by late billionaire Paul Allen amassed a staggering US$1.5 billion, making it the most expensive single-owner art collection ever sold at auction – and it is only halfway through the two-day sale. The second sale, though, carries a much lower total estimate.

The bar was set high for the blockbuster auction, with five blue-chip artworks fetching more than US$100 million and smashed previous records. Among which the most valuable lot was Pointillist pioneer Georges Seurat's Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version), selling for US$149.24 million with fees, four times the artist's previous auction record and is now the sixth-most expensive painting ever sold at auction.

The other four masters joining the US$100 million club were Father of Modern Art Paul Cézanne, household name Vincent van Gogh, leading Post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin, and Austrian national treasure Gustav Klimt. These masters aside, records were set for at least 13 artists, including Lucian Freud, Paul Signac, Max Ernst, among others. 

The new owners of the paintings by Seurat, van Gogh and Klimt are likely to be Asian, or ethnic Chinese, as suggested by their bidding representatives.


Thrilling energy filled the Rockefeller saleroom


Tech mogul Paul Allen was perhaps best recognized for bringing Microsoft and personal computers into our lives. But what fewer people know is that beyond his talents for computing, he was also a private yet omnivorous art collector.

Back in the late 1960s, Paul Allen and Bill Gates met each other at the private Lakeside School in Seattle. Both passionate computer lovers, the two hit it off and started hanging out together. When Gates famously dropped out of Harvard, it was Allen who persuaded him into the decision. After quitting studies, they focused on developing software and systems, and eventually launched the world-renowned Microsoft.

Unfortunately, soon after Allen reached the zenith of career, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer. In 2000, he left Microsoft’s board and assumed the post of senior strategy advisor to the company’s management team. In 2018, he died of septic shock related to cancer at the age of 65, with an estimated net worth of around US$20 billion at the time.


Paul Allen (right) co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates (left)

In fact, many called Allen a polymath, whose knowledge and skills spanned a wide range of disciplines. And art was part of Allen’s childhood, introduced to him by his father – a librarian who collected Chinese celadons and hung Georges Rouault’s poster in his home. In the 1990s, Allen started attending auctions and formed his grand art collection.

As a keen philanthropist with over US$2.6 billion donations to various sectors, the proceeds of this auction will also go to charities, as per his wishes.

On a side note, the previous record for the most valuable private collection sold at auction was at US$922 million, when American real estate tycoon Harry Macklowe and his ex-wife Linda sold their art collection as part of their asset settlement at two court-ordered auctions in November 2021 and May 2022. 



Lot 8 | Georges Seurat | Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version), Oil on canvas (Auction record for the artist)
Created in 1888
39.5 x 50 cm
Provenance (Amended by The Value):

  • Jules F. Christophe, Paris (by 1892, then by descent)
  • B.A. Edynski and Max Hochschiller, Paris (by 1908)
  • Galerie Bernheim-Jeune et Cie., Paris
  • Alphonse Kann, Paris (by 1910, until at least 1917)
  • Marius de Zayas, New York (by 1921)
  • John Quinn, New York (by 1922)
  • Julia Quinn Anderson, New York (by descent from the above, 1924)
  • Mary Anderson Conroy, New York (by descent from the above)
  • Henry P. McIlhenny, Esq., Philadelphia (acquired from the above, 1936); sale, Christie's, London, 30 June 1970, lot 16 (Sold: around $430,000, world auction record for the artist at the time of sale)
  • Artemis, Luxembourg (acquired at the above sale)
  • Heinz Berggruen, Paris (acquired from the above, 1973)
  • Private collection (1997)
  • Acquired by Paul Allen, 3 December 1999

Estimate on request, in excess of US$100,000,000
Hammer Price: US$130,000,000
Sold: US$149,240,000


Auctioneer Adrien Meyer opened the present lot at US$75 million and bidding was slow but steady at first. When the bid reached the US$100 milllion mark, a tense face-off was between telephone bidders represented by Xin Li-Cohen, Deputy Chairman and Maria Los, Deputy Chairman of Client Advisory. 

After several minutes, the work was hammered to Xin Li-Cohen's client with paddle number 2088 on a bid of US$130 million. 

This petite version of Les Poseuses was last auctioned in 1970 at Christie's for £430,000, setting the auction record for the Pointillist master at the time. In 2018, David Rockefeller sold La rade de Grandcamp for a record-breaking US$34 million at Christie's New York. Fetching US$149 million with fees, the work has now shattered the artist's auction record for the second time. 


Xin Li-Cohen won the present lot for her client with paddle number 2088


Island of the Grand Jatte | Sold: US$34.06 million, Christie's New York in 1999

When Pointillist master Georges Seurat debuted his tour-de-force A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte in 1886, many questioned whether the meticulous planned application of paint in tiny dots would be appropriate for depicting a varied range of subjects and scenes.

In defensing his work, Seurat began to work on another large-scale canvas which would meet the challenge head-on and showcase the full expressive potential of pointillism. The result was Les Poseuses, which turned out to be one of the century's most celebrated and iconic works. 

There are two versions of Les Poseuses: a smaller canvas, the present lot; and a larger one, which remained in the collection of the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia. Throughout the 20th century, this small canvas served as the primary means for scholars and the public to study Seurat’s intricate play of color and light, as well as the complex compositional arrangement of Les Poseuses.

Here, Seurat connected the Les Poseuses and La Grande Jattet by including several accessories and garments worn by the characters on the latter canvas within the studio scene. The orange parasol and straw hat, for instance, appear to directly echo the objects placed on the grass alongside the girl seated in the middle of the park scene. 


Pointillist master Georges Seurat


A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte | The Art Institute of Chicago


Les Poseuses on view at the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia



Lot 14 | Paul Cézanne | La Montagne Sainte-Victoire, Oil on canvas (Auction record for the artist)
Created during 1888 - 1890
65.1 x 81 cm
Provenance:

  • Ambroise Vollard, Paris
  • Auguste Pellerin, Paris (acquired from the above)
  • Jean-Victor Pellerin, Paris (by descent from the above, 1929)
  • Georges A. Embiricos, Lausanne
  • Heinz Berggruen, Paris (acquired from the above, 1982, then by descent); sale, Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg, New York, 7 May 2001, lot 5
  • Acquired at the above sale by Paul Allen

Estimate on request, in excess of US$120,000,000
Hammer Price: US$120,000,000
Sold: US$137,790,000


The landscape around France’s Aix-en-Provence is dominated by the peak of Mont Sainte-Victoire. A symbol of the south of France, it was also a never-ending inspiration for Paul Cezanne.

In the early 1880s, Cezanne moved back to his hometown in Aix and remained there until his death in 1906. Over those twenty years, he produced dozens of canvases portraying the Mont Sainte-Victoire. In each work, Cezanne would alter something about the scene, from lighting and colour, to vantage points and the mood he tried to evoke. 

Throughout the series, one can witness the artistic development of the post-Impressionist master: the more he painted, the more abstracted the landscape would become. While his earlier works employed a more classically constructed composition, his later work was a precursor to Cubism, where he broke the visible field into fragments and flattened the image into abstraction by removing recognizable details.

Cezanne's previous auction record was set by Curtain, Jug and Fruit, which sold for US$60.5 million at Sotheby's New York back in 1999. His personal record, however, was reportedly set at US$250 million, when The Card Players was sold to Qatar by George Embiricos, a Greek shipping magnate, through a private sale in 2011. It was also the most expensive piece of art ever sold then.


Mont Sainte-Victoire


Paul Cézanne


Curtain, Jug and Fruit | Sold: US$60.5 million, Sotheby's New York in 1999


The Card Players | Allegedly sold: US$250 million, Private Sale in 2011


Lot 22 | Vincent van Gogh | Verger avec cyprès, Oil on canvas (Auction record for the artist)
Created in Arles in 1888
65.2 x 80.2 cm
Provenance:

  • Theo van Gogh, Paris (acquired from the artist, 7 May 1888)
  • Johanna van Gogh-Bonger, Paris (by descent from the above)
  • Andries Bonger, Amsterdam (by 1905, until at least 1912)
  • D'Audretsch Art Gallery, The Hague
  • Jack Niekerk Art Gallery, The Hague
  • Howard Young Art Gallery, New York (1928)
  • N.H. Holston, New York
  • J.K. Newman, New York; sale, American Art Association, New York, 6 December 1935, lot 39
  • Carroll Carstairs Art Gallery, New York (acquired at the above sale)
  • Charles Shipman and Joan Whitney Payson, New York (by 1938, until at least 1960)
  • Acquired by Paul Allen, 22 June 1998

Estimate on request, in excess of US$100,000,000
Hammer Price: US$102,000,000
Sold: US$117,180,000


The bid started at US$80 million. Drawing competition from an array of interested buyers, the lot was eventually hammered to a bid of US$102 million, placed by the client represented by Xin Li-Cohen with paddle number 2083. After fees, it sold for US$117.1 million, renewing Vincent van Gogh's auction record.

Painted in April in 1888, the present lot stands as a witness to Van Gogh’s beginning of his mature career. In February that year, the artist moved from Paris to Arles with a vision for a Promising Land, a utopia which he imagined would be like Japan, a country that fascinated him.

Captivated by the motif he had found in Arles, he set out to create “a Provence orchard of tremendous gaiety,” capturing a variety of views of the different trees in blossom. By the end of April, Van Gogh had completed 14 canvases of the landscape, of which only five remained in private hands, including the present lot.

Although Van Gogh was only in Arles for 15 months, his time in the south proved to be the most prolific in his short yet extraordinary career. Here, he produced some of his most famous works, including The starry night over the Rhone, Sunflowers and Bedroom at Arles.

Van Gogh's previous auction record was set in 1990, when Portrait of Dr Paul Gachet fetched US$83 million at Christie's, the highest auction price for a work by any artist at the time. The buyer was known to be Ryoei Saito, the Japanese paper tycoon.


Portrait of Dr Paul Gachet | Sold: US$82.5 million, Christie's New York in 1990


Lot 11 | Paul Gauguin | Maternité II, Oil on burlap (Auction record for the artist)
Created in Tahiti in 1899
94.7 x 61 cm
Provenance (Amended by The Value):

  • The artist; Estate sale, Papeete, 2 September 1903, lot 104
  • Jean Cochin, Paris (acquired at the above sale)
  • Denys Cochin, Paris (1906)
  • Galerie Bernheim-Jeune et Cie., Paris (acquired from the above, 28 February 1910)
  • Alphonse Kann, Paris (acquired from the above, 28 February 1910)
  • (possibly) Michel Manzi, Paris (circa 1915)
  • Dikran Khan Kélékian, Paris and New York (by 1920); sale, American Art Association, New York, 30-31 January 1922, lot 152
  • Bourgeois Gallery, Paris (acquired at the above sale)
  • Adolph Lewisohn, New York (by 1926)
  • Sam Lewisohn, New York (by descent from the above, circa 1942)
  • Wildenstein & Co. Inc., New York (acquired from the above, 1942)
  • Mrs. Henry Huttleston Rogers Jr. (acquired from the above, 1943, until at least 1948)
  • Wildenstein & Co. Inc., New York (acquired from the above)
  • Edwin C. and Florence Vogel, New York (acquired from the above, 1952)
  • David Rockefeller, New York (acquired from the above, 1956)
  • John Seward Sr. and Barbara Piasecka Johnson, Princeton (acquired from the above, circa 1975, until at least 1990).
  • Nevill Keating Pictures, Ltd., London
  • Private collection (acquired from the above, circa 1997); sale, Sotheby's, New York, 4 November 2004, lot 15 (Sold: US$39.2 million, world auction record for the artist at the time of sale) 
  • Acquired at the above sale by Paul Allen

Estimate on request, in excess of US$90,000,000
Hammer Price: US$92,000,000
Sold: US$105,730,000


While Van Gogh's dreamland was in Arles, his frienemy Paul Gaugin's was far away in the South Seas. After the two quarreled in 1888, Gaugin went back in Paris only to find it a distressing place to realize his artistic desires. A year after his 1893 inaugural exhibition of Tahitian works in Paris had been met with outrage, the artist wrote, "I have come to an unalterable decision to go and live forever in Polynesia without this eternal struggle against idiots." 

When he successfully gathered enough funds for his trip – thanks to a sale at Hôtel Drouot, he set sail to his exotic paradise Tahiti for the second time and never again return to Paris. As he immersed himself in local life, he was captivated by the appearance, daily rituals, gestures, language and lives of Mataiea’s inhabitants. 

Deeply inspired, Gauguin entered a period of heightened creativity, where he created a series of artworks depicting exotic idylls and beauties for which he is renowned for today. A verdant ode to fertility, the present Maternité II is one of two versions of this composition. The first, Maternité I, is now housed in the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.

In 2004, Maternité II set Gauguin's auction record at US$39.2 million. Two years later, the record was smashed by L'homme à la hache, when it sold for US$40.3 million. Now with Maternité II selling for US$105.7 million, his record has increased by nearly US$65 million.


Paul Gauguin


Maternité I | the State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg


L'homme à la hache | Sold: US$40.3 million, Christie's New York in 2006


Lot 17 | Gustav Klimt | Birch Forest, Oil on canvas (Auction record for the artist)
Created in 1903
110.1 x 109.8 cm
Provenance (Amended by The Value):

  • Adele and Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, Vienna (acquired from the artist)
  • Seized by the Viennese Magistrate, May 1938 (following the Nazi Anschluss of March 1938)
  • With Dr. Erich Führer, Vienna (the state-appointed administrator for Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer)
  • Städtische Sammlung, Vienna (acquired from the above, November 1942)
  • Österreichische Galerie, Vienna (transferred from the above, 1948)
  • Restituted to the heirs of Adele and Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer by the Republic of Austria, March 2006; sale, Christie's, New York, 8 November 2006, lot 51 (Sold: US$40.3 million, world auction record for the artist at the time of sale)
  • Acquired at the above sale by Paul Allen

Estimate on request, in excess of US$90,000,000
Hammer Price: US$91,000,000
Sold: US$104,585,000


Auctioneer opened the bidding at US$70 million. After five bids, a bidder on the phone with Elaine Holt, Senior Vice President and Senior Director of Impressionist & Modern Art, placed the winning bid of US$91 million and bought the Klimt for US$104.5 million with fees. 

Birch Forest was acquired directly from Klimt by the now legendary collectors, Adele and Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer. Their collection was seized by the Nazi authorities in the days following the Austrian Anschluss in 1938.

After it was restituted to the heirs of the Bloch-Bauers, it was sold to Paul Allen for US$40 million at Christie's New York in 2006, which set the then auction record for the artist, though the record had swiftly been cracked by Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, when it fetched US$87.9 million on the same day. 

Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, the other Klimt painting commissioned by the subject's husband, was alledgedly sold privately for US$135 million to Ronald Lauder, son of cosmetics baron Estée Lauder. 


Elaine Holt won the present lot for her client with paddle number 2195


Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II | Sold: US$87.9 million, Christie's New York in 2006

While Gustav Klimt rose to prominence with his avant-garde portraits and allegorical compositions, he began painting landscapes in the 1890s and the genre eventually comprised almost half of the artist’s oeuvre.

Like the rest of the wealthy and intellectual circles of Vienna, Klimt would spend his summers outside of the city for what was known as Sommerfrische. During these summer sojourns, the artist resided in Litzlberg, a scenic and rural area to the east of Salzburg.

In the picturesque village of Litlzberg, Klimt was allowed to paint within the nature, rather than in the confines of his city studio, which provided him with solace and solitude, something he craved at times after the rigors of his life as an established leader of the Viennese avant-garde.

Not having to meet the demands of his commissions, he painted these landscape scenes purely for himself, reflecting a sense of wonder and fascination with the world around him while honing his visual language.


Gustav Klimt

Other Highlight and Record-breaking Lots:



Lot 34 | Lucian Freud | Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau), Oil on canvas (Auction record for the artist)
Created in 1981 - 1983
185.4 x 198.1 cm
Provenance:

  • James Kirkman, London (acquired from the artist, 1983); sale; Sotheby's, New York, 14 May 1998, lot 33 (world auction record for the artist at the time of sale)
  • Acquired at the above sale by Paul Allen

Estimate on request, in excess of US$75,000,000
Hammer Price: US$75,000,000
Sold: US$86,265,000


Lot 41 | Claude Monet | Waterloo Bridge, soleil voilé, Oil on canvas
Cretaed in 1899 - 1903
65.4 x 100 cm
Provenance:

  • Galerie Durand-Ruel et Cie., Paris (acquired from the artist, June 1904)
  • Paul Cassirer, Berlin (acquired from the above, 7 November 1904)
  • Anton Mayer, Berlin and Weimar (acquired from the above, 7 November 1904, until at least 1916). Paul and Gabrielle Oppenheim-Errera, Brussels and Princeton (1916); Estate sale, Christie’s, New York, 11 November 1997, lot 107
  • Acquired at the above sale by Paul Allen

Estimate on request, in excess of US$60,000,000
Hammer Price: US$56,000,000
Sold: US$64,510,000


Lot 30 | Jasper Johns | Small False Star, Encaustic, acrylic and paper collage on fiberboard (Auction record for the artist)
Created in 1960
55.6 x 46.4 cm
Provenance:

  • Leo Castelli Gallery, New York
  • Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Clark, Seattle (acquired from the above, 1960)
  • Joseph H. Hazen and Lita Annenberg Hazen, New York (acquired from the above, November 1961)
  • Anon. sale, Christie's, New York, 7 November 1989, lot 76
  • Stephen and Nan Swid, New York (acquired at the above sale)
  • Acquired from the above by Paul Allen, 2000

Estimate: US$45,000,000 - 65,000,000
Hammer Price: US$48,000,000
Sold: US$55,350,000


Lot 27 | Édouard Manet | Le Grand Canal à Venise, Oil on canvas
Created in fall 1874
57.2 x 47.6 cm
Provenance:

  • Jean-Baptiste Faure, Paris (acquired from the artist, January 1875)
  • Galerie Durand-Ruel et Cie., Paris (acquired from the above, 10 August 1906)
  • Mr. and Mrs. William H. and Ethel Crocker, Hillsborough, California (acquired from the above, 10 August 1906, then by descent until at least 1953)
  • Provident Security Co., San Francisco (by 1966, until at least 1977)
  • Private collection (by 1990)
  • Marc de Montebello, New York (acquired from the above, July 1993)
  • Private collection (1993)
  • Acquired by Paul Allen, 15 February 2000

Estimate: US$45,000 - 65,000,000
Hammer Price: US$45,000,000
Sold: US$51,915,000


Lot 25 | Sandro Botticelli | Madonna of the Magnificat, Tempera, oil and gold on panel, tondo
Diameter: 62.9 cm
Provenance:

  • Rev. J.M. Rhodes, Florence (acquired in Florence in the late 19th century)
  • Ayerst Hooker Buttery, London
  • Julius Böhler, Munich (1926)
  • Thomas Agnew & Sons, London (acquired from the above, 16 November 1951)
  • Mount Trust Collection (Captain and Mrs. Vivian F. Bulkeley-Johnson) (acquired from the above, 31 December 1951); sale, Christie's, London, 1 December 1978, lot 113 (as Botticelli and Workshop)
  • The Matthiesen Gallery, London; P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London and Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York (by 1978)
  • Barbara Piasecka Johnson Collection (acquired from the above, 1980)
  • Acquired from the above through Matthiesen Fine Art by Paul Allen, 1999

Estimate on request, in excess of US$40,000,000
Hammer Price: US$42,000,000
Sold: US$48,480,000


Lot 46 | J. M. W. Turner | Depositing of John Bellini’s Three Pictures In La Chiesa Redentore, Venice, Oil on canvas
73.7 x 115.6 cm
Provenance:

  • Charles Birch, Westfield House, Edgbaston and Metchley Abbey, Harbourne near Birmingham
  • Joseph Gillott, Birmingham (acquired from the above, December 1847)
  • Thomas Rought, London (acquired from the above, January 1849)
  • Lloyd Brothers and Co., London; sale, Foster, London, 13 June 1855, lot 60 (unsold)
  • Thomas Agnew & Sons, London (acquired from the above, 1857)
  • Richard Hemming, Bentley Manor, Bromsgrove (acquired from the above)
  • Mrs. Maude Cheape (née Hemming), Bentley Manor, Bromsgrove (by descent from the above)
  • Thomas Agnew & Sons, London (acquired from the above, 1892)
  • Sir John Pender, Middleton Hall, County Linlithgow, Foots Cray Place, Sidcup, Kent and Arlington House, London (acquired from the above); sale, Christie's, London, 29-31 May 1897, lot 84
  • J.P. Morgan, New York (acquired at the above sale, through Agnew, then by descent)
  • Myron Charles Taylor, U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, New York (acquired from the above, circa 1947)
  • Wildenstein & Co. and Thomas Agnew & Sons, London (acquired from the above, 1961)
  • Colin Tennant, 3rd Baron Glenconner (acquired from the above, 1961)
  • Private collection (acquired from the above, 1969)
  • Marlborough International Fine Art Establishment
  • Acquired from the above by Paul Allen, 16 June 1999

Estimate: US$28,000,000 - 35,000,000
Hammer Price: US$29,000,000
Sold: US$33,595,000


Lot 6 | Paul Signac | Concarneau, calme du matin (Opus no. 219, larghetto), Oil on canvas (Auction record for the artist)
Created in 1891
65.7 x 81.3 cm
Provenance:

  • Henri-Nicolas Lejeune, France (acquired from the artist, 1891)
  • Henri Lejeune, Saint-Cloud (by descent from the above); sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co., London, 27 June 1977, lot 13
  • Bluestone Corporation, New York
  • Private collection (until 1993)
  • Private collection; sale, Christie’s, New York, 18 November 1998, lot 28 (world auction record for the artist at the time of sale)
  • Acquired at the above sale by Paul Allen

Estimate: US$28,000,000 - 35,000,000
Hammer Price: US$34,000,000
Sold: US$39,320,000


Lot 52 | Francis Bacon | Three Studies for Self-Portrait, Oil on canvas
Created in 1979
35.6 x 30.5 cm
Provenance:

  • Marlborough Fine Art, Ltd., London
  • Private collection, Europe (acquired from the above, 1979, then by descent)
  • Anon. sale, Christie's, London, 8 December 1999, lot 72
  • Acquired at the above sale by Paul Allen

Estimate: US$25,000,000 - 35,000,000
Hammer Price: US$25,000,000
Sold: US$29,015,000


Lot 40 | Max Ernst | Le roi jouant avec la reine, Bronze with brown patina (Auction record for the artist)
Conceived in 1944 and cast in 1953-1961
Height: 100.5 cm
Provenance:

  • Alexander Iolas Gallery, New York (probably acquired from the artist)
  • Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Randall Shapiro, Chicago (acquired from the above); sale, Sotheby's, New York, 10 November 1992, lot 50
  • Acquired at the above sale by Paul Allen

Estimate: US$8,000,000 - 12,000,000
Hammer Price: US$21,000,000
Sold: US$24,435,000


Lot 33 | Andrew Wyeth | Day Dream, Tempera on panel (Auction record for the artist)
Created in 1980
48.3 x 69.2 cm
Provenance:

  • The Armand Hammer collection (1981)
  • Armand Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
  • Acquired from the above by the late owner, 2011

Estimate: US$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Hammer Price: US$20,000,000
Sold: US$23,290,000


Lot 43 | David Hockney | Winter Timber, Oil on canvas, in 15 parts
Created in 2009
274.3 x 609.6 cm
Provenance:

  • PaceWildenstein, New York
  • Acquired from the above by Paul Allen, 2009

Estimate: US$10,000,000 - 15,000,000
Hammer Price: US$20,000,000
Sold: US$23,290,000


Lot 37 | Diego Rivera | The Rivals, Oil on canvas (Auction record for the artist)
Created in 1931
152.4 x 127 cm
Provenance:

  • Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and John D. Rockefeller, Jr., New York (acquired from the artist, 1931)
  • Peggy and David Rockefeller, New York (gift from the above, 1941); Estate sale, Christie's, New York, 9 May 2018, lot 424 (world auction record for the artist at the time of sale)
  • Acquired at the above sale by Paul Allen

Estimate: US$7,000,000 - 10,000,000
Hammer Price: US$12,000,000
Sold: US$14,130,000


Lot 58 | Sam Francis | Composition in Blue and Black, Oil on canvas (Auction record for the artist)
Created in 1955
195.6 x 130.2 cm
Provenance:

  • Arthur Tooth & Sons Gallery, London
  • E.J. Power, London
  • Ronald O. Perelman, New York (acquired in 1994)
  • Gagosian Gallery, New York
  • Acquired from the above by Paul Allen, 2001

Estimate: US$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Hammer Price: US$11,500,000
Sold: US$13,557,500


Lot 4 | Edward Steichen | The Flatiron, Gum-bichromate over platinum print (Auction record for the artist)
Created in 1904
48.3 x 37.5 cm
Provenance:

  • John (grandnephew of the artist) and Liz Steichen (by descent from the artist)
  • Keith de Lellis, New York (acquired from the above, January 1992)
  • Acquired from the above by Paul Allen, 2001

Estimate: US$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Hammer Price: US$10,000,000
Sold: US$11,840,000


Lot 26 | Henri-Edmond Cross | Rio San Trovaso, Venise, Oil on canvas (Auction record for the artist)
Created between September 1903 - January 1904
73 x 92 cm
Provenance:

  • Théo van Rysselberghe, Brussels (acquired from the artist, 1904)
  • Victor Freiherr von Mutzenbecher, Berlin (1912)
  • Marie Lange, Germany
  • Private collection, Germany (by descent from the above); sale, Christie's, London, 3 December 1990, lot 18
  • Private collection, Belgium; sale, Sotheby's, London, 21 June 2004, lot 38
  • Private collection, United States (acquired at the above sale); sale, Christie's, New York, 6 May 2009, lot 21
  • Acquired at the above sale by Paul Allen

Estimate: US$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Hammer Price: US$8,000,000
Sold: US$9,550,000


Lot 19 | Barbara Hepworth | Elegy III, Bronze with brown and green patina (Auction record for the artist)
Conceived in 1966 and cast in 1967
Height: 139.5 cm
Provenance:

  • Marlborough Fine Art, Ltd., London (acquired from the artist, June 1968)
  • Marlborough-Godard Gallery, Toronto (acquired from the above)
  • Private collection, Canada (acquired from the above, 1976, until at least 1995)
  • Haunch of Venison, London
  • Acquired from the above by Paul Allen, 2003

Estimate: US$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Hammer Price: US$7,200,000
Sold: US$8,634,000






Lot 36 | Jan Brueghel the Younger | The Five Senses: Sight, Set of Five Panels, Oil on panel (Auction record for the artist)
Panel: 70.2 x 113.3 cm
Provenance:

  • Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, Vienna (by 1720, then by descent in the Imperial Collection, deaccessioned by 1796)
  • Josef Karl Ritter von Klinkosch, Vienna (by 1873); Estate sale, Miethke, Vienna, 2 April 1889, lots 27-32 (as Jan Brueghel the Elder and Hendrick van Balen; with incorrect provenance from Archduke Leopold Wilhelm)
  • Isidore Ritter von Klinkosch (acquired at the above sale)
  • Baron Wodianer, Vienna (by 1906-1907)
  • Anon. sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 20 April 1907, lots 3-7 (as Jan Breughel the Elder and Hendrick van Balen)
  • Marino Vagliano (acquired at the above sale, then by descent)
  • Private collection; sale, Christie’s, New York, 3 October 2001, lot 98 (world auction record for the artist at the time of sale)
  • Acquired at the above sale by Paul Allen

Estimate: US$4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Hammer Price: US$7,200,000
Sold: US$8,634,000


Lot 42 | Thomas Hart Benton | Nashaquitsa, Oil on canvas (Auction record for the artist)
Created in 1953
56.5 x 69.2 cm
Provenance:

  • Jules Worthington, Martha's Vineyard (acquired from the artist, 1956).
  • Private collection, Brooklyn (acquired from the above, 2003).
  • Andrew Thompson Fine Art, New York (acquired from the above, 2011).
  • Acquired from the above by Paul Allen, 2011

Estimate: US$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Hammer Price: US$4,600,000
Sold: US$5,580,000


Lot 21 | Henri Le Sidaner | La Sérénade, Venise, Oil on canvas (Auction record for the artist)
Created in 1907
137 x 183.5 cm
Provenance:

  • Galerie Georges Petit, Paris and M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York (14 February 1927, until January 1931)
  • André Beauguitte, France; Estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 19 November 1986
  • Anon. sale, Sotheby's, London, 1 July 1987, lot 158
  • Private collection (acquired at the above sale); sale, Sotheby's, New York, 14 May 1998, lot 164
  • Acquired at the above sale by Paul Allen

Estimate: US$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Hammer Price: US$1,700,000
Sold: US$2,100,000

Auction Details:

Auction House: Christie's New York
Sale: Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection Part I
Date: 9 November 2022
Number of Lots: 60
Sold: 60
Sale Rate: 100%
Sale Total: US$1,506,386,000



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