The economy is creaking everywhere, even Europe or the USA are alarmed by their inflation levels, the Russian invasion of the Ukraine has devastating effects all over the world, some cryptocurrencies collapse as fast as they emerged. .. But some are fine. It is always like this. And among that group of lucky ones there are probably some linked to the international art market: the collection of Paul G. Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, has just become the most expensive in history, auctioned for 1,622 million dollars in seats at Christie’s, in New York. The collection was actually 1,506 million, while the remaining 116 million went to charity.
“It is the event of the year – or of the century – in the art market, which has not broken expectations, but all records,” said a Christie’s spokesperson. Until now, the record for a private auction was $922 million, set six months ago when Sotheby’s sold the collection of paintings and sculptures of divorced property developers Harry and Linda Macklowe. Previously, the record was held in 2018, when the Rockefellers’ private collection was auctioned off for $832 million. This was stated by Max Carter, head of contemporary art at Christiés Allen’s artistic heritage spanned 500 years and argued that “the world will probably never see another of this range, quantity and quality of masterwork in a private collection”.
Prior to the auction, some 20,000 people toured the Rockefeller Center exhibition halls, eager to see the dozens of works that would return to private hands. These include a painting by Paul Cézanne (“La Montagne Saint Victoire”) which sold for 138 million, another by Klimt (“The Birch Forest”) which fetched 105 million – a record for the artist – and a panorama of a garden in Arles, by Van Gogh (“Orchard with Cypresses”), which reached 117 million. There were also works by Botticelli, Gaugin and, among the most recent, by Lucien Freud, sold for 86 million. But the highest number of those nervous and hectic nights was for “The Models”, a painting by Georges Seurat that sold for 149 million at auction. It is one of two versions of the picture that Seurat painted in 1888 – the other is in a Philadelphia museum – and which experts consider “the masterpiece of pointillism”.
In the second round of the auction, $116 million was raised, including works by Magritte, Jackson Pollock, Joan Miró and Calder, among others. And there was also the Argentinian Guillermo Kuitca whose “Diarios” (2005-2005, exhibited at the Venice Biennale) sold for 567 thousand dollars. Even if the identity of the buyers is not known, the specialized media ArtNews indicates that the 12% of the works sold went to Asia, a market that experts continue to see “in full” despite the global shadow of a recession. The 50% went to American buyers, and the rest was divided between Europeans and Middle Easterners. Apparently, the Russian tycoons – who had put pressure on the art market in previous years – were no longer there as a result of the sanctions against their country. Although, for anonymity, anything is possible.
Paul G. Allen turned to cultural entrepreneurship after being dazzled by a visit to the Tate Gallery in London. He launched the Museum of Pop Culture in 2000, also financed a building designed by architect Frank Gehry and supported several scientific, ecological and solidarity projects. He has even dabbled in sports as an owner of basketball and soccer franchises. He had founded Microsoft with Bill Gates in 1975 in Albuquerque (New Mexico), from which they later distanced themselves. Allen died four years ago, aged 65, a victim of lymphoma.
Another Christie’s executive, Adrien Meyer, noted: “Clients want to diversify their resources and benefit from art and they do so because they know that most works continue to increase in value over time. There are more billionaires than masterpieces” available on the market and the demand is very varied, increasingly global and young”.
And so, the escalation doesn’t stop. If now it was a record for a private collection, another was set months earlier: Andy Warhol’s silkscreen of Marilyn’s portrait sold for $195 million, the highest figure for a modern work, surpassing the 179.3 million paid in 2015 for “Women of Algiers”, a painting by Picasso (1955). Only the “Salvator Mundi” attributed to Da Vinci – sold for 450 million dollars – fetched a higher figure.
Source: Clarin
