Auctions

Van Gogh, Cézanne, and Pissarro Masterpieces to Lead Blockbuster $450 Million Auction at Sotheby’s

The latest entry in New York’s fall sales week consists of 12 outstanding artworks

September 30, 2026

A bustling 19th-century Parisian street scene with horse carriages, pedestrians, and classic architecture. — Camille Pissarro *La Place du Théâtre-Français et l’avenue de l’Opéra,* (1898). Photo: Courtesy Sotheby’s

The renowned Blaquier-Arrieta collection has top billing within Sotheby’s Marquee Week this November when a group of 12 paintings, each one a masterpiece, comes to auction at Sotheby’s New York. The assemblage contains works rarely seen in public since their purchase in the 1970s, with the two main highlights being Vincent van Gogh’s Châtaigniers en fleurs, estimated at around $180 million, and Paul Cézanne’s Arlequin, which has garnered a prediction in the neighborhood of $120 million. “Legendary: The Blaquier-Arrieta Collection Evening Auction” has been valued at a total of $450 million, remarkable for a cohort of just a dozen artworks.

Painting by Van Gogh depicting people walking down a street lined with lush green trees and houses under a dark blue sky. — Vincent van Gogh *Châtaigniers en fleurs* (1890). Photo: Courtesy Sotheby’s.

The remaining ten works chart a representative course through Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. And the names? Without reciting the full list, there are Gauguin, Monet, Derain, Renoir, and two by Degas.

Blaquier-Arrieta has been given a prime spot just before the Modern Evening Auction on November 18, an event where records and highs for individual artist names have been set or predicted to be set in the past. Announcements for this autumn’s Marquee Week sales have been underway for the past few weeks. Works from the Armand Hammer Collection by Mary Cassatt, Degas, Pissarro, and Renoir will follow Blaquier-Arrieta as part of the Modern Evening Sale.

Cézanne painting of a person in a red harlequin costume with a white hat, walking on a colorful abstract background. — *Arlequin,* Cézanne. Photo: Courtesy Sotheby’s

Gauguin still life painting of a floral arrangement with fruits on a table, featuring green leaves and pink, white flowers. — Paul Gauguin *Fleurs dans une coupe,* (1899-1901). Photo: Courtesy Sotheby’s

Excitement around Blaquier-Arrieta is informed by the art world’s nostalgia for the era in which it was formed, a time before works of this caliber had already been consumed into private collections where their return to the market came in tandem with high-profile sales. “There was a time when you could walk into a top gallery in London or New York and, over a few years, build something of real museum quality. You simply can’t do that now, at any price,” said Sotheby’s Senior Advisor for Impressionist & Modern Art Simon Shaw, adding, “What strikes me most is that the Blaquier-Arrieta collection doesn’t feel like a private collection at all. It feels like a small museum—a miniature Musée d’Orsay, now opening its doors for the very first time.” That was the state of the gallery world in the ’70s, when the collection was built.