A rare group of 12 Impressionist and modern masterpieces from the Blaquier-Arrieta Collection will be offered by Sotheby's in New York on November 18, with a combined estimate of about $450 million.
The sale is led by Vincent van Gogh's Châtaigniers en fleurs from 1890, estimated at around $180 million. The vibrant landscape, painted in Auvers-sur-Oise, features a flowering chestnut tree rendered through dense strokes of green, yellow and orange. It could set a new auction benchmark for the artist.
Another central work is Paul Cézanne's Arlequin, valued at approximately $120 million. One of only four paintings in the artist's Harlequin series, it is the sole example remaining in private hands. Cézanne's son Paul modeled for the composition, whose sculptural figure signals the transition from Impressionism toward modern art.
A Journey Through Impressionism and Modernism
Assembled largely during the 1970s by Carlos Pedro Blaquier and Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier, the collection brings together defining names including Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro, Paul Gauguin, Alfred Sisley, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck.
Highlights include Renoir's 1877 boating scene En Canot, estimated at $25 million to $35 million; Pissarro's Paris streetscape, valued at $30 million to $40 million; and Degas's large pastel Avant la course, estimated at $20 million to $30 million.
Monet's 1876 view of the Tuileries Garden captures Paris before his celebrated series paintings, while Sisley's Seine landscape reflects the formative years of Impressionism. Gauguin's still life and Toulouse-Lautrec's portrait expand the collection's perspective on evolving color, composition and modern urban life.
The sale also includes Derain's 1905 harbor scene from Collioure and Vlaminck's intensely colored still life, works that trace the rise of Fauvism and its bold new visual language.
By returning long-unseen works to the public market, this collection may renew global interest in how Impressionist experimentation shaped the creative foundations of modern art.
