Peggy and David Rockefeller’s lavish artworks and other treasures have set a new world record at a Christie’s auction as the priciest ever single-owner collection. Topping 800 million dollars (£590 million), the collection went for about twice the previous record of 484 million dollars (£357 million) from a 2009 Paris sale of designer Yves Saint Laurent’s estate. The three-day live sale of the late couple’s belongings ended Thursday with a 115 million dollar (£85 million) star lot — a Picasso painting called Fillette a la corbeille fleurie which once belonged to the writer Gertrude Stein, estimated to be worth 100 million dollars (£74 million). Matisse’s Odalisque Couchee aux Magnolias — depicting a woman in a Turkish harem — sold for 80.8 million dollars (£59.7 million), topping the 70 million dollar (£51.7 million) estimate and setting a new record for a Matisse, whose highest price at auction had been 48.8 million dollars (£36.3 million). In what one art publication dubbed “Rockefeller Mania,” Christie’s said 100% of the 893 Rockefeller lots offered live had sold, for a total of 828 million dollars (£611 million), and more than 600 lots sold online for 4.6 million dollars (£3.4 million).

Source: Irish Independent May 12, 2018 01:41 UTC