New York Auction Houses Brace for a $2 Billion-Plus Week Featuring Van Gogh and Cézanne

The total could pass $2.4 billion. The potential total of more than $2.4 billion is slightly above last year’s estimates for the period.

Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Phillips and Bonhams are leaning on single-owner collections. Christie’s 20th-century evening sale is on 17 November. Sotheby’s follows on 18 November with the 12-painting Blaquier-Arrieta collection, in which Sotheby’s expects a Van Gogh and a Cézanne to set records for the artists.

What the houses are projecting

Sotheby’s projects more than $1.1 billion, which would be a house record for a marquee season, according to The Art Newspaper. Christie’s projects $823 million to $1.1 billion across its November New York sales.

Phillips expects $80.4 million to $128.7 million. Bonhams expects at least $40 million.

The report adds that global auction sales at Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips rose 70% year on year in the first half of 2026, citing an ArtTactic report. It also notes stock market volatility after the US midterm elections.

Records at stake
The Van Gogh auction record is $117 million, including fees, set at the Paul Allen sale at Christie’s in 2022, and the Cézanne record is $137.79 million, set during the Paul Allen sales at Christie’s, according to The Art Newspaper.

Sotheby’s bets on the Blaquier-Arrieta collection

Sotheby’s sells 12 Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Fauvist paintings from the Blaquier-Arrieta collection on 18 November, followed by a Modern evening sale. The Art Newspaper expects the collection to sell for around $450 million and says it is fully guaranteed. The Associated Press, in a September report carried by BNN Bloomberg, described it as valued at almost half a billion U.S. dollars.

The works were consigned by the children of Argentine collector Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier and her husband, Carlos Pedro Blaquier. Sotheby’s Helena Newman described the group as a “mini-Musée D’Orsay”, according to the AP.

The lead lot is Vincent van Gogh’s *Blossoming Chestnut Trees* (1890), estimated at around $180 million and guaranteed. The AP, quoting Newman, says the painting captures the energy the artist felt after his release from a psychiatric asylum in May 1890. He died two months later.

The Van Gogh auction record is $117 million with fees, set by *Orchard with Cypresses* at Christie’s in 2022, according to The Art Newspaper.

Paul Cézanne’s *Arlequin* (1888–90) carries an estimate of around $120 million. The Cézanne record is $137.79 million, also from the Paul Allen sales at Christie’s. The AP says *Arlequin* is one of four portraits of the artist’s son as Harlequin, and that the other three are in major museums.

The collection also includes works by Monet, Pissarro and Renoir. A Degas horse-racing picture is in the group as well.

Christie’s, Phillips and Bonhams

Christie’s 20th-century evening sale on 17 November is led by two lots estimated at $60 million to $80 million each. One is Wassily Kandinsky’s *Betonte Ecken* (1922–23), formerly in the Guggenheim collection. The other is Gustav Klimt’s *Litzlbergkeller* (1915–16).

Hürriyet Daily News reported on 28 October that the Klimt has been in the same private collection for nearly 30 years. It last appeared at auction in May 1997, when it set a Klimt auction record. The painting shows a brewery and inn on Lake Attersee in Austria. Otto Primavesi commissioned it, and it was recently on long-term loan to Vienna’s Leopold Museum.

Christie’s 21st-century evening sale features an untitled 1983 Jean-Michel Basquiat estimated at $30 million to $50 million. Other consignors named by The Art Newspaper include Clive Davis, William Koch and Agnes Gund. Gund’s works will benefit her foundation.

Phillips leads with Amedeo Modigliani’s limestone *Tête* (1911–12), estimated at $28 million to $35 million, from a private collection held for more than 50 years. Bonhams offers five Constantin Brâncuși bronzes, about $25 million combined, from a private collection that acquired them from the artist’s estate.

Sotheby’s projects more than $1.1 billion, which would be a house record for a marquee season.

What has been said and what comes next

Allegra Bettini, head of Sotheby’s Modern evening auction, said the market is “very much moved” by single-owner collections, according to The Art Newspaper. Kat Widing of Christie’s, who heads its 21st-century evening sale, said “People aren’t day-trading Picassos.”

Results are not yet known. Christie’s 20th-century evening sale is on 17 November, and Sotheby’s Blaquier-Arrieta sale follows on 18 November. As of 14 November, the estimates above are pre-sale figures.

The Van Gogh estimate of around $180 million sits above the $117 million record, while the Cézanne estimate of around $120 million sits below its $137.79 million record. Whether either record is broken will be decided in the sale room.