An auction of 60 works from the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's art collection smashes records by raising $1.5 billion

• An auction of late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's art collection raised just over $1.5 billion.
• The Christie's auction has set a new record as the biggest art sale in history.

An auction of 60 artworks from the collection of late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen smashed records by bringing in just over $1.5 billion, making it the biggest private-collection sale in history, per Christie's.

The most expensive work was Georges Seurat's "Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version)", which fetched $149.2 million. This painting, which depicts three nude women, is considered a pioneering work of Seurat's signature style of Pointillism.

A total of five pieces went for more than $100 million each at the auction in New York on Wednesday night.

Paul Cézanne's colorful landscape "La Montagne Sainte-Victoire" sold for $137.8m, setting a record for the artist. And a Gustav Klimt 1903 painting, Birch Forest, also set a new benchmark by fetching $104.6m.

Alex Rotter of Christie's said Allen "changed the way we live our lives. Now, he's changed the art market," The Wall Street Journal reported.

The previous record of $922 million was only set in May with an auction of works owned by Harry Macklowe, a New York property developer, and his former wife Linda.

Vincent van Gogh's "Verger avec cyprès", which depicts a peaceful landscape in the South of France, sold for just over $117 million.

Paul Gauguin's post-Impressionist "Maternité II", which dates to 1899, fetched almost $106 million.

And Gustav Klimt's evocative depiction of an autumnal Birch Forest, sold for close to $105 million.

The sale was filled with big names including Georgia O'Keeffe, Claude Monet, David Hockney, and Max Ernst.

All proceeds will go towards philanthropic causes, in accordance with the wishes of Allen, who died in 2018.

He founded Microsoft with his childhood friend Bill Gates and was ranked by Forbes as the world's 44th richest person, with an estimated wealth of $20.3 billion, when he died.

Allen was an active art collector throughout his life. Discussing his collection in a 2006 interview, he said: "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."

The second part of Allen's collection, featuring 95 more artworks, goes under the hammer on Thursday.