The treasures of Peggy and David Rockefeller set an auction record for the most valuable private collection when they went under the hammer last week. The total of the 1,500 objects and artwork sold at Christie’s after a ten day online sale and three day auction reached $832.6 million.
The sale included 19th & 20th Century art, American art, as well as English and European furniture and ceramics. All lots at the six live auctions were sold and each resulted in totals that highly exceeded Christie’s stated estimates. The 19th and 20th century art raised $646.1 million, significantly more than the $490 million estimate.
Among the artwork sold, Pablo Picasso’s “Fillette à la corbeille fleurie” was estimated at $100 million but was then sold for a staggering $115 million.
Artwork from Willem de Kooning, Gilbert Stewart, and Diego Rivera raised $106.9 million in its auction on Wednesday. Rivera’s “The Rivals” had never left the Rockefeller family, but was sold at $9.7 million in its first auction in decades. It was passed down to the Rockefeller’s in 1941 as a wedding gift and marked the beginning of the artist’s relationship with the family that spanned decades.
Check out the gallery above to see the most expensive price tagged artwork.