The Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller: Art of the Americas Evening Sale totaled $106,883,500 with seven artist records established. To date, the Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller has totaled $765,384,844, and already has established the highest total achieved for any private collection offered at auction during the first night of the sale week. Thus far, 14 artist records have been set within the collection along with additional decorative arts records. The top lot of the sale was Willem de Kooning’s Untitled XIX, which sold for $14.2 million and formerly resided in David Rockefeller’s Chase Manhattan office.Will Haydock, Head of American Art, remarks: “The American art from the collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller represents one of the best single owner collections to come to market and this evening collectors responded accordingly

The sale of the art collection amassed by the late banker David Rockefeller kicked off Tuesday, setting new auction records for French artists Claude Monet and Henri Matisse, Christie’s said. Monet’s “Nympheas en fleur,” part of the impressionist’s famed water-lily series inspired by his Giverny home, fetched $84.69 million at the evening sale in New York, the auction house said. The previous record for the Frenchman had been $81.4 million, set by Christie’s in 2016 for “Meule” from Monet’s famous grainstack series. Tuesday’s sale also set a new auction record for Henri Matisse, with his 1923 “Odalisque couchee aux magnolias” selling for $80.75 million, Christie’s said. The previous Matisse record was $49 million. But the top lot of the night was Picasso’s 1905 masterpiece “Fillette a la corbeille fleurie” (“Young Girl With a Flower Basket”) which sold for $115 million, over its pre-sale value of $100 million.

World history is a subject of endless fascination to collectors of antiquities and ethnographic art. Volumes have been written about how and why ancient cultures lived as they did, but no words can present the story of an early civilization quite as vividly as the art and relics they left behind. At the pinnacle of auction houses known for their expertise in antiquities is Artemis Gallery, owned and operated by internationally respected authorities Bob and Teresa Dodge. On many occasions in the past, the Dodges have been enlisted by eminent members of the antiques trade to authenticate important pieces. Artemis Gallery’s sales are followed by every level of collector, from curious beginners to prestigious institutions with major collections. The next Artemis event, which will take place on Thursday, May 10, is a fully curated auction with fine-quality pieces available