I’d love to have an excellent Modern art collection, but let’s face it: it’s a pain to have go around hunting down all sorts of Manets and Degas and whatnot. After all, my DVR is getting full of “Lost” and “Battlestar Galactica” episodes. Fortunately, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé already did the footwork for us by assembling one of the most diverse and high-quality private collections of art today. And now it’s for sale.

On February 23rd – 25th, Christie’s will be auctioning off the “Collection Yves Saint Laurent et Pierre Bergé”. The collection is a veritable who’s-who of art: Degas, Gaugin, Manet, Cezanne, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, Klimt, Mondiran, Munch, Picasso, Matisse… the list doesn’t end. These are authentic works, many from the height of the artists’ fame, and they’ve got anything your house could be missing: Impressionist art, Modern art, Ancient drawings, 19th century paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, and more. Individual pieces range from a $500 rock-crystal-hilted dagger from the 19th century on up to a $35 million-dollar Picasso.

So tear down that old Christie Brinkley poster and start bidding — it’s never too late to traffic on someone else’s good taste.

This post is tagged Art, Cezanne, collecting, Degas, Gaugin, home, Impressionism, Klimt, Manet, Matisse, Modern art, Mondiran, Munch, Picasso, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec