Christie’s to sell Ted Turner’s landscapes for his foundation
Christie’s plans to auction roughly twenty Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran paintings from Ted Turner’s collection in New York in January 2027. Proceeds are intended for the Turner Foundation. Works displayed at the media entrepreneur’s Montana ranch include Yosemite Valley and two landscapes of the Grand Canyon, with estimates announced before the sale.
Arts··Evening
A sale for the foundation
Christie’s is preparing a dedicated auction of landscapes from the collection of Ted Turner, the American media entrepreneur who founded CNN. Paintings by Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran are being offered to benefit the Turner Foundation. The New York evening auction, named Trailblazer: Ted Turner’s America, is scheduled for 20 January 2027. The auction house puts the selection at approximately twenty paintings. Many had been displayed at Turner’s Flying D Ranch in Montana. Turner’s family connected the decision to sell with his longstanding attachment to the natural world. The foundation receiving the proceeds supports environmental protection and restoration of natural systems.[1], [2]
Yosemite and the Grand Canyon
Bierstadt’s Yosemite Valley, dating from 1866, is among the principal works. It had hung above a fireplace at the Montana ranch. Christie’s gives the painting an estimated range of 4–6 million dollars. Moran’s The Inner Gorge, Grand Canyon is offered with the same range. A second Moran landscape, The Grand Canyon–Hance Trail, has an estimate of 800,000–1.2 million dollars. Bierstadt’s Buffalo at Sunset is estimated at 300,000–500,000 dollars. These announced ranges apply to individual paintings ahead of the auction. ARTnews also reports the upper estimates of 6 million dollars for Yosemite Valley and The Inner Gorge. The two artists’ landscapes are part of the collection that Turner had kept at his Montana ranch for private display.[1], [2]
Landscapes from the ranch
Turner acquired Yosemite Valley at Sotheby’s in 2003, when its upper estimate was also 6 million dollars. His family described the paintings as objects he valued for their beauty and their connection with nature and outdoor life. They said parting with them was difficult, while welcoming the prospect that others would appreciate them. Turner established his foundation in 1990. The sale directs proceeds from this part of his private collection to that institution. Christie’s American art specialist Tylee Abbott singled out the Bierstadt and Moran paintings in discussing the offering. The dedicated selection consists of works by those two nineteenth-century landscape painters.[1], [2]
