But then, this is no ordinary collection, and it will certainly be no ordinary auction. Spread across three floors of Christie’s salerooms is the sprawling private collection of David Rockefeller, the billionaire banker and globetrotting philanthropist who died last year at 101. Branded as a once-in-a-generation chance for global collectors to buy some of the world’s most significant pieces still in private collection, some predict the auction, which will take place over three days next week, could be the first to raise $1bn in total. The painting had hung in the living room of Rockefeller’s grand Manhattan home on the Upper East Side for decades. Also on sale is Monet’s Nymphéas en fleur (Water Lilies in Bloom), an important work in the artist’s series of water garden paintings.

Source: The Guardian May 04, 2018 13:37 UTC