For fifty years, art-world insiders knew a legendary collection existed somewhere in South America. Nobody, not even the dealers who sold the paintings, could say what it contained. That mystery ends on November 18, when Sotheby's auctions the Blaquier-Arrieta Collection in New York, with a combined estimate of roughly $450 million.
The 12 works were assembled mostly in the 1970s by Carlos Pedro Blaquier and Nelly Blaquier de Arrieta, who made an annual pilgrimage to London to buy from the Lefevre Gallery on Bruton Street. Seven of the paintings, including pieces by Cézanne, Renoir, Pissarro, Degas and Gauguin, came through that one gallery. Because the couple never lent to museums or exhibitions, even Sotheby's veterans admit the reveal feels mythical — the collection was nicknamed "El Dorado" in the trade.
Two paintings headline the sale, and each could reset its artist's auction record. Van Gogh's Chataignier en fleurs roses et blanches, painted in May 1890 just after he left the Saint-Rémy asylum for Auvers-sur-Oise, where he would die two months later, carries an estimate near $180 million. Cézanne's Arlequin, expected to fetch around $120 million, is one of only two paintings from his late series of 15 figure works still privately owned; museums hold the rest.
The supporting cast is remarkably strong for a 12-lot sale. Renoir's En Canot is estimated at $25-30 million, Pissarro's winter view of the Place du Théâtre-Français at $30-40 million, and Degas's pastel Avant la course at $20-30 million — none previously auctioned. Monet's Le Jardin des Tuileries, Sisley's La Seine à Port-Marly, a late Gauguin still life from Tahiti, a Toulouse-Lautrec portrait and two Fauve canvases by Derain and de Vlaminck round out a line-up that one longtime auctioneer has compared to a miniature Musée d'Orsay.
Sotheby's expects fierce global competition, pointing to collectors in the US, Japan, Taiwan and the Middle East, plus newer wealth from China, Singapore, Indonesia and Korea. The timing looks smart: last year's Leonard Lauder collection sale hit $527.5 million at its main evening event, with Klimt's Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer alone making $236.4 million.
Why should a traveller care? Even if you are not bidding, this is a rare chance to see museum-grade paintings that have never been displayed publicly — Sotheby's previewed the works in London before the New York sale, and auction previews are free and open to anyone who registers. It is also a window onto a vanished era: as one former specialist puts it, you could once walk into a top London or New York gallery and build a museum-quality collection over a few years, something impossible today at any price. For anyone visiting New York in November, catching the exhibition before the hammer falls beats queuing at most permanent collections.
