Twelve rarely seen masterpieces by Van Gogh, Cézanne, Monet, Renoir and other masters could bring around $450 million in New York
A remarkable chapter in the history of the international art market will unfold in New York this November, when Sotheby’s presents the Blaquier-Arrieta Collection, one of the most important Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collections to appear at auction in decades.
Twelve paintings from the collection will be offered at Sotheby’s New York on November 18, 2026, with a combined estimate of approximately $450 million. The sale, titled Legendary: The Blaquier-Arrieta Collection Evening Auction, brings together works by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Maurice de Vlaminck and other major figures of modern European painting.
What makes the collection particularly extraordinary is not simply its financial value. Many of the paintings have been almost completely absent from public view for decades. Several have not been exhibited for more than half a century, giving the sale the character of an artistic rediscovery rather than an ordinary auction.
Van Gogh’s final years
The undisputed star of the auction is Vincent van Gogh’s Châtaigniers en fleurs, painted at Auvers-sur-Oise on May 24, 1890, only weeks before the artist’s death. Sotheby’s has placed an estimated value of approximately $180 million on the painting.
The flowering chestnut tree dominates the canvas, rendered in the energetic brushwork and intense colors characteristic of Van Gogh’s final period. The painting belongs to the extraordinary burst of creativity that followed his departure from the asylum at Saint-Rémy and his arrival at Auvers.
If it reaches its expected price, the painting could establish a new auction record for Van Gogh. His current auction record is approximately $117 million, achieved by Orchard with Cypresses at Christie’s in New York in 2022.
The Van Gogh has also had an unusually private history. It was acquired by the Blaquier family in the 1970s and has not been publicly exhibited since 1964.
Cézanne’s rare Harlequin
Another major attraction is Paul Cézanne’s Arlequin, estimated at around $120 million.
Painted between 1888 and 1890, the work depicts Cézanne’s teenage son Paul in the role of a Harlequin. It is particularly rare because it is the only one of Cézanne’s four Harlequin paintings that remains in private hands. It has not been publicly exhibited since 1975.
A successful sale at around $120 million would potentially establish a new auction record for Cézanne.
Monet, Renoir and Pissarro
The collection extends far beyond its two headline works.
Claude Monet is represented by Le Jardin des Tuileries, painted in 1876. The work offers a glimpse of Paris during the formative years of Impressionism and is estimated at approximately $15–20 million.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s En Canot (Jeune fille à la barque), painted in 1877, is another highlight. The year is significant: 1877 was the year in which the Impressionists formally adopted the name by which they would become known.
Camille Pissarro’s monumental Parisian scene La Place du Théâtre-Français et l’avenue de l’Opéra, soleil d’après-midi en hiver dates from 1898 and carries an estimate of $30–40 million.
Together, the paintings create an unusually coherent journey through the development of modern painting—from early Impressionism and its fascination with contemporary Paris to the more radical experiments of Post-Impressionism and Fauvism. Sotheby’s itself describes the collection as being closer to a private museum than a traditional collection.
A collection hidden from public view
The story behind the paintings is almost as fascinating as the paintings themselves.
The collection was assembled by Argentine art patron and philanthropist Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier and her husband, industrialist Carlos Pedro Blaquier. Beginning in the 1960s and particularly during the 1970s, the couple acquired important works through leading European galleries, including London’s Lefevre Gallery and Wildenstein. Seven of the twelve paintings being offered by Sotheby’s were purchased from the Lefevre Gallery during that period.
The collection remained largely private at the family’s estate in Argentina. For decades, its contents were known mostly through the art world’s rumors and occasional glimpses. This secrecy contributed to the collection’s almost legendary reputation among collectors and specialists.
Now, after decades away from the public eye, the paintings are being introduced to a new generation of viewers.
A global tour before the auction
Before arriving in New York, the collection is traveling internationally. Sotheby’s has scheduled exhibitions in London, Taipei, Hong Kong and Paris, followed by a presentation in New York from November 7 to 17, immediately before the auction.
The London presentation began on September 30, giving the public its first opportunity in decades to see several of the paintings together.
For collectors, the November sale will be an opportunity to acquire works of a quality rarely available on the open market. For the wider art world, however, the auction represents something more: the return of a remarkable private collection to public attention.
With a potential total of $450 million—and a Van Gogh that could break the artist’s auction record—the Blaquier-Arrieta sale is likely to become one of the defining events of the 2026 autumn art season.
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