If you’re inspired by the journey of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, then you may be interested in the new collection that’s all set to come to auction at Christie’s. We’re talking about the late tech giant’s belongings that will soon go under the hammer for a whopping $1 billion. Touted to be the most expensive collection the art market has ever seen; the collection comprises 150 works and is heading to auction this fall. It is called the “Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection” and includes 500 years of art history, reflecting the depth and range of Allen’s tastes.
Commenting on it, Allen in an interview in 2006 had said, “You have to be doing it because you just love the works… and you know that all these works are going to outlast you. You’re only a temporary custodian of them.”
The tranche includes major works from Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Roy Lichtenstein. Other remarkable items to be offered are Claude Monet’s painting of a Rouen cathedral; Jasper Johns’s aluminum Numbers; Paul Gauguin’s Tahiti scene Maternity (II) (1899); Georges Seurat’s The Models (1888) and more.
Remarking on Allen’s greatness, sister Jody in a statement said, “He believed that art expressed a unique view of reality — combining the artist’s inner state and inner eye — in a way that can inspire us all.” The auction will take place in New York in November this year with the proceeds from it going entirely to charity.
