Paul Allen's art collection tops $1 billion at auction

Experts from the Christie's auction house in front of works from the Paul Allen collection on October 12, 2022 in Beverly Hills.

AFP - FREDERIC J. BROWN

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's art collection went up for auction on Wednesday.

A sale that continues today.

But already a record has been shattered with the sale of 60 lots (out of the 150 in total) of the collection which has exceeded the historic mark of one billion dollars.   

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Energy prices are soaring all over the world.

That of works of art sold at auction too.

In a sign that the art market continues to grow despite the economic uncertainties linked to the war in Ukraine and inflation, five paintings entered the closed club of works sold for more than 100 million dollars at auction during this memorable evening at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan.

Of the 60 lots from

which were snatched up on Wednesday, it is a painting by Georges Seurat which turns out to be the most expensive: more than 149 million dollars were paid by an anonymous buyer to acquire

s, a painting considered a masterpiece of pointillism.

One of the most expensive sales in the history of the art market

Another wealthy art lover has acquired a

 by Paul Cézanne for more than $137 million.

In the crowded New York saleroom, record after record fell.

A painting by Vincent Van Gogh sold for 117 million, or a painting from the Tahitian period by Paul Gauguin for 105 million.

With this sale, which continues this Thursday, the year 2022 should remain as one of the most expensive in the history of the art market.

Proof that in these uncertain times, art remains a safe investment in the eyes of the wealthy.

►Also read: The art collection of the co-founder of Microsoft, estimated at more than a billion dollars, put up for auction

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