First night of Rockefeller art auction fetches $646M

A collection of artwork put together by billionaire David Rockefeller that includes pieces from Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet and Georgia O’Keeffe brought in more than $646 million on the first night of an auction.

Highlights of the sale at Christies included “Young Girl with a Flower Basket,” a 1905 painting by Pablo Picasso which fetched $115 million, the second-highest price at auction for the artist.

Paintings by Claude Monet and Henri Matisse also garnered new record prices for the artists. Monet’s “Water Lilies in Bloom,” completed between 1914 and 1917, sold for a record $84.6 million . . .