Mr. Allen’s trove surpassed the previous, $922m record set in May by New York real-estate developer Harry Macklowe and his ex-wife, Linda Macklowe. Whereas the Macklowe holdings were packed with midcentury masters and pop icons like Andy Warhol, Mr. Allen amassed a museum’s breadth of pieces, from old masters to impressionists to American modernism. The sale had been expected to reach $1b, the house said.
“He changed the way we live our lives,” Alex Rotter, Christie’s chairman of 20th and 21st century art, said of the personal-computing pioneer. “Now, he’s changed the art market.”