Sotheby’s said a dozen paintings collectively valued at almost half a billion dollars will be sold on November 18, after sitting unseen for decades in South America.
By the numbers: Van Gogh’s “Châtaigniers en fleurs” carries an estimate of $180 million and Cézanne’s “Arlequin” $120 million, and both are expected to break records for the artists.
- Neither painting has been seen in public for half a century. The collection also holds Monet and Pissarro cityscapes, a Degas horse-racing image and a Renoir boating scene.
Zoom in: Helena Newman, Sotheby’s head of Impressionist and modern art, called the group a “mini-Musée D’Orsay” and said she has never handled a collection of this calibre in 30-plus years.
The big picture: Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier and her sugar magnate husband Carlos Pedro Blaquier built the collection from the 1960s, and their children are now selling it.
Why it matters: Newman says buyers from American tech billionaires to Middle Eastern institutions are circling, a sign the very rich are parking money in assets they consider tried and tested.
