Bill Koch Sends Monet and Cézanne Paintings to Christie's in November
Collector Bill Koch is putting a group of paintings up for sale at Christie's New York in November, and the auction house expects the collection to bring more than US$40 million. ArtNews reported the plan on 26 October 2026.
The two headline works are a Claude Monet and a Paul Cézanne. Each carries an estimate of US$12 million to US$18 million. An estimate is the price range the auction house expects a work to reach when bidding closes. Monet's Champ d'avoine et coquelicots (Oat Field and Poppies), painted in 1890, and Cézanne's Tasse, verre et fruits (Cup, Glass and Fruit), from around 1877, will both appear in Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale, the high-profile sale held in the evening.
Koch bought the Monet in 1985 and the Cézanne in 1986. Both men are famous names in French painting. Monet is known for his garden and landscape scenes, and Cézanne for still lifes of fruit and tableware.
The rest of the group is also priced for serious bidders. Edgar Degas's Scène de ballet is estimated at US$3 million to US$5 million. Henri Matisse's Jeune femme fardée à l'orientale (La bayadère), dated 1929, is expected to bring US$5 million to US$7 million. The collection also includes works by Joan Miró, the Spanish painter, and Diego Rivera, the Mexican muralist.
Christie's event page for the sale, titled The William I. Koch Collection, lists the dates as 17 and 18 November. The page describes the works as Impressionist, Modern European and Latin American art. Christie's lists the dates.
This is not Koch's first large sale at Christie's. In January, he sold US$84 million worth of American art at the house, according to ArtNews. In June 2025, Christie's sold US$28.8 million worth of wine from his cellar. Earlier in the year, a two-part sale of his Western art, the paintings and sculptures of the American frontier, set five new artist records, according to Observer.
Many of the works also have long histories. Provenance, the documented chain of past owners, is one of the first things specialists check when a painting comes to market. The paperwork behind these paintings is a key part of how buyers judge them.
Anyone following the November sale can watch the bidding on 17 and 18 November, when the Monet and Cézanne are expected to come up in the evening session.
