David Rockefeller’s fabled art collection smashes records for Monet and Matisse, with a US$115m Picasso thrown in
The art amassed by the US banker, who died last year aged 101, is expected to fetch US$600m upon completion and set another record as the most valuable single collection ever sold
The sale of the art collection amassed by the late banker and oil scion David Rockefeller kicked off Tuesday, setting new auction records for French artists Claude Monet and Henri Matisse, Christie’s said.
Monet’s “Nympheas en fleur,” part of the impressionist’s famed water-lily series inspired by his Giverny home, fetched US$84.69 million at the evening sale in New York, the auction house said.
The previous record for the Frenchman had been US$81.4 million, set by Christie’s in 2016 for “Meule” from Monet’s famous grainstack series.
But the top lot of the night was Picasso’s 1905 masterpiece “Fillette a la corbeille fleurie” (“Young Girl With a Flower Basket”) which sold for US$115 million, over its pre-sale value of US$100 million.
Its original purchase by Gertrude and Leon Stein, together with two other Rose Period paintings, helped jumpstart Pablo Picasso’s career. The Rockefellers purchased the canvas in December 1968.
The three-day sale is expected to rake in US$600 million and smash the previous record for a collection set by that of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berge, which fetched US$484 million in 2009.
The May 2018 season is expected to break new records, six months after Christie’s sold a Leonardo da Vinci for US$450.3 million, more than doubling the world record for any work of art bought at auction.