MICROSOFT CO-FOUNDER’S ART ON AUCTION
The largest art auction in history is planned and it’s all thanks to Paul Allen.
Bill Gates’ childhood friend co-founded Microsoft in 1975 and accumulated several major influential art pieces along the way.
He died in 2018 at the age of 65 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in 1983.
The auction includes famous masterpieces by artists like Botticelli, Renoir, David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein.
The auction will encompass the selling of 150 works of art spanning 500 years, and will take place at Christie’s.
Christie’s CEO, Guilaume Cerutti predicted that the auction would be one of a kind.
“The inspirational figure of Paul Allen, the extraordinary quality and diversity of works, and the dedication of all proceeds to philanthropy, create a unique combination that will make the sale of the Paul G Allen Collection an event of unprecedented magnitude.”
The BBC reports that in 2010 Allen pledged to leave the majority of his fortune to charity after his death. At the time he was the 37th richest man in the world according to Forbes magazine, with an estimated $13.5 billion. He was treated for non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2009, but it returned, and in 2018 he died from complications of the disease.
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