On Wednesday, auctioneers announced the most expensive art collection that would be put up for bid. The deceased Paul Allen, who in 1975 co-founded Microsoft with his childhood friend Bill Gates, had the collection. Agence France-Presse, a French news organization, said that it is worth an astounding $1 billion. There are 150 pieces in it by famous artists like Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, and Jasper Johns.
According to Johanna Flaum, vice chairman of 20th and 21st-century art at Christie’s, “I believe there aren’t really enough superlatives to describe this sale. The most priceless collection ever sold at auction is this one. It’s a once-in-a-generation kind of thing. Paul Allen is a truly unusual collector as a result of the collection’s diversity.”
Allen’s collection dwarfs the previous record-maker
Allen’s collection dwarfs the previous record-maker, the Macklowe collection, which was sold for $922 million. The auction will be held in New York on November 9 and 10. As per Allen’s wishes, the proceeds from the collection will be given to charity. Before the sale, pieces of the collection will be available for viewing in Los Angeles, London, Paris, Shanghai, and New York.
Allen, who was born in 1953, passed away at the age of 65 in 2018 from complications related to Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and septic shock. In the 1970s and 1980s, he and Gates were instrumental in initiating the computing revolution. After receiving a Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis, Allen stopped working actively in 1983. He made investments in a variety of sectors, including technology, media, research, and space. He was also a well-known philanthropist, contributing to causes including healthcare, environmental protection, and education.
With a net worth of $20.3 billion at the time of his passing, Forbes listed Allen as the 44th richest person in the world.
