A collection of Impressionist masterpiece artworks from late Dallas businessman and philanthropist Edwin L. Cox is expected to fetch more than $200 million at auction through Christie's this fall.
The Cox Collection: The Story of Impressionism — which Christie's calls "one of the greatest American collections to ever appear on the market" — will feature works by Caillebotte, Cézanne, and Van Gogh, among others. Twenty-five works will be auctioned in November, with a dedicated sale of decorative arts and furniture to follow online in December, according to a release.
Cox, an oil and gas tycoon for whom the SMU business school is named, died November 5, 2020 at the age of 99. He assembled the collection half a century ago, Christie's says.
"The Cox Collection tells the story of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism at the highest level and encapsulates many of the defining stylistic and thematic characteristics that constitute these seminal movements," the release says.
Highlights include:
- Jeune homme à sa fenêtre, 1876, one of Gustave Caillebotte’s most iconic paintings (estimate not disclosed but in excess of $50 million). "The work depicts the artist’s middle brother René gazing out of the window of the family’s residence in Paris’s 8th arrondissement," Christie's says.
- Cabanes de bois parmi les oliviers et cyprès, 1889, by Vincent van Gogh (estimate about $40 million). "With the motif of the olive tree, van Gogh was able to explore his now famed expressionistic artistic language — as the present work masterfully shows," the auction house says.
- L’Estaque aux toits rouges, circa 1883-1885, by Paul Cézanne (estimate $35 million-$55 million). "One of the most innovative landscapes of its period," Christie's says, "It is one of the culminating works of the intense surge of creativity that L’Estaque had unleashed in the artist over a series of visits there in the late 1870s and early 1880s."
“Perhaps one of the finest collections of Impressionist art to ever come to auction, the Cox collection will be remembered as a milestone in the art market," says Adrien Meyer, Christie's global head-private sales & co-chairman-Impressionist & Modern Art. "Most of the pictures will be seen as a once in a lifetime opportunity for any collector or museum.”
A portion of the sale proceeds will go toward educational purposes, the auction house says. A global tour of highlights from the collection will include stops in Taipei, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and London, before the auction preview at Christie’s Rockefeller Galleries in New York.
For more information and to register for the sale, visit www.christies.com/coxcollection.
Van Gogh's Cabanes de bois parmi les oliviers et cyprès, estimated about $40 million.
