Van Gogh, Cézanne Masterpieces Head Sotheby's $450 Million Auction

A dozen Impressionist and post-Impressionist artworks collectively valued at nearly half a billion dollars are set to go up for auction at Sotheby's in New York on November 18. The collection, amassed by the late Argentine art collector Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier and her husband Carlos Pedro Blaquier, has been held privately for decades and has never been seen by the public.

Leading the sale are Vincent van Gogh's "Châtaigniers en fleurs" (Chestnut Trees in Flower), with an estimate of $180 million, and Paul Cézanne's "Arlequin," estimated at $120 million. Both are expected to break records for the respective artists.

Helena Newman, Sotheby's head of Impressionist and modern art, described the collection as akin to a "mini-Musée D'Orsay," referencing the Paris museum renowned for its Impressionist holdings. "In my 30-plus years at Sotheby's, I’ve never had the privilege of handling a collection of quite this content and caliber," Newman stated.

Van Gogh's landscape painting captures the artist's "explosion of energy and vitality" shortly after his release from a psychiatric asylum in May 1890, just two months before his death. The Cézanne portrait is one of four depictions of his son as the character Harlequin; the other three are housed in major museum collections.

The auction also features Parisian cityscapes by Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro, an Edgar Degas horse-racing scene, and a Pierre-Auguste Renoir boating scene, with individual estimates in the tens of millions of dollars.

Art expert Philip Hook noted the collection's legendary status stems partly from the collectors' decision not to loan out the works for exhibitions. "No one knew really what was in it. So now, for this to be revealed, is tremendously exciting," Hook said. He added that the collection's strength lies in its representative work from each major Impressionist and post-Impressionist artist, a feat he described as "incredibly difficult to do."

Sotheby's anticipates global interest in the sale, attracting potential buyers from a range of ultra-wealthy individuals and institutions. Newman suggested that in times of "global macro geopolitical uncertainty," there is a renewed appeal for "established, tried and tested" artworks that are "unquestionably great."