Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen's $1 billion art collection, containing more than 150 masterpieces, is heading to auction take a look at some of the best paintings

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• More than 150 pieces of art owned by late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen are going up for auction in November.
• The pieces, spanning 500 years of art history, could raise $1 billion for philanthropic efforts.

A massive art collection from late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen is hitting the auction block on November 9-10, and it could fetch a combined $1 billion.

Paul Allen      Getty Images / Steve Granitz

Christie's will be handling the auction of the more than 150 artworks, collectively called "Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection," which span more than 500 years of art history. Proceeds from the sale will be "dedicated to philanthropy, pursuant to Mr. Allen's wishes," according to a press release.

Agents at a Christie's auction      Don Emmert/Getty Images

Allen, who was 65 years old and the 27th-richest person in the world at the time of his death in 2018, once said of his love for art: "You have to be doing it because you just love the works...and you know that all these works are going to outlast you. You're only a temporary custodian of them."

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The pieces in the Visionary collection range in price estimates from $1.5 million to upwards of $120 million and come from artists like Vincent van Gogh, Georgia O'Keeffe, Claude Monet, Georges Seurat, and more. Here's a closer look at some of the highlights from Allen's collection:

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Vincent van Gogh, "Verger avec cyprès" - Estimate of more than $100 million

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Claude Monet, "Waterloo Bridge soleil voilé" - Estimate of more than $60 million

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Édouard Manet, "Le Grand Canal à Venise" - Estimate of more than $50 million

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Paul Gauguin, "Maternité II" - Estimate of more than $90 million

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Paul Cézanne, "La Montagne Sainte-Victoire" - Estimate of more than $120 million

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, "Depositing of John Bellini's Three Pictures in La Chiesa Redentore, Venice" - Estimate of more than $30 million

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Paul Signac, "Concarneau calme du matin (Opus no. 219, larghetto)" - Estimate of more than $28 million

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Lucian Freud, "Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau)" - Estimate of more than $75 million

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Louise Bourgeois, "Black Flames" - $1.5 million to $2.5 million

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Georgia O'Keeffe, "White Rose with Larkspur No. 1" - $6 million to $8 million

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Agnes Martin, "Untitled" - $4 million to $6 million

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Georges Seurat, "Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version)" - Estimate of more than $100 million

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René Magritte, "La voix du sang" - $12 million to $18 million

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Jasper Johns, "Map" - $5 million to $7 million

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Jasper Johns, "Small False Start" - Estimate of more than $50 million

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Francis Bacon, "Three Studies for Self-Portrait" - Estimate of more than $25 million

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Gustav Klimt, "Birch Forest" - Estimate of more than $90 million

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Jan Brueghel The Younger, "The Five Senses, Taste" (set of five panels) - $4 million to $6 million

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Jan Brueghel The Younger, "The Five Senses, Touch" (set of five panels) - $4 million to $6 million

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Jan Brueghel The Younger, "The Five Senses, Hearing" (set of five panels) - $4 million to $6 million

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Jan Brueghel The Younger, "The Five Senses, Sight" (set of five panels) - $4 million to $6 million

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Jan Brueghel The Younger, "The Five Senses, Smell" (set of five panels) - $4 million to $6 million

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