Lawren Harris paintings sell for $1.2M each in record-breaking Paul Allen collection auction

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Two paintings by iconic Canadian artist Lawren Harris sold for $1.2 million (or US$882,000) each on Thursday, Christie’s auction house says.

They were part of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s collection, which has now become the most valuable private collection of all time, totalling US$1,622,249,500. The two paintings by Harris were estimated to be sold for up to US$600,000, but ended up going for much more.

The paintings depict Canadian landscapes: one of Jasper National Park called Mountain Sketch LXIII, and the other of Mount Robson Provincial Park called From Berg Lake, Morning. Harris is known for helping form the Group of Seven, a group of Canadian landscape painters, in 1920.

“Harris is among the top-selling Canadian artists. His works have sold for over $11 million previously. He has been a leading figure in not only the Canadian cultural art scene, but also in the art market for Canadian art,” American art specialist at Christie’s Paige Kestenman told the National Post.

“It makes sense that his work would be included in a collection formed by one of the visionaries in many fields, Paul Allen, among other visionaries in art, from Botticelli to David Hockney.”

The auction of Allen’s collection was a two-day event that started on Wednesday evening. It was called unprecedented because it was valued at over US$1 billion.

“It will be the most valuable philanthropic auction of all time, as all proceeds of the sale will be going to charity,” said Kestenman, adding that Allen signed the Giving Pledge, which is a promise by the wealthiest people in the world to dedicate most of their wealth to charitable causes.

The auction is also unprecedented because of the collection’s span — over 500 years of art history — and the quality of the works included: from Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet to Edouard Manet and Georges Seurat, as well as more modern icons like Jasper Johns and Lucian Freud.

Despite the ongoing global economic downturn, Kestenman said earlier this week that the response to Allen’s collection was “very enthusiastic.” Potential buyers were checking out the art at Christie’s Rockefeller Center location before the auction, forming some of the longest lineups Kestenman has seen.

In the weeks leading up to the auction of Allen’s collection, there have been “strong results” at other auctions, said Kestenman.

The Ann and Gordon Getty collection recently exceeded US$150 million with 10 sold-out auctions.

“That was another philanthropic sale that was a white glove auction,” meaning that every single item sold, said Kestenman. “We’re expecting a similarly strong response for this sale.”

The two paintings by Harris were acquired by Allen at auction in 2016. They have been displayed alongside some of his collection at an exhibit called Seeing Nature.

“When you look at a painting, you’re looking into a different country, into someone else’s imagination, how they thought,” Allen said at the time.

The paintings by Harris show how he was able to form “the Canadian landscape into a completely new personal vision inspired by his own artistic approach and spiritual connection to the landscape. That’s a theme that Paul Allen found fascinating,” said Kestenman.

“We are honoured to continue that by placing (Harris) on the world stage.”

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