MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Two abstract expressionist master pieces sold for 500 million dollars

Griffin bought de Kooning's 1955 oil on canvas titled “Interchange” for about $300 million and Pollock's 1948 “Number 17A” canvas for about $200 million.

United States billionaire Ken Griffen, paid $500 million for two paintings by abstract expressionist masters in one of the largest private art deals ever. Griffin, founder of Chicago-based hedge fund firm Citadel, bought works by Jackson Pollack and Willem de Kooning from David Geffen's foundation.

 The deal, completed last year is a record for both artists and exceeds the last high mark for a private sale, the $300 million that Qatar Museums paid for Paul Gauguin's painting “When Will You Marry?” Griffin's purchase preceded a slowdown in the art market in the second half of 2015. Sales of impressionist, modern, postwar and contemporary art at Sotheby's and Christie's in London earlier this month fell from a year ago.

“In order to own the greatest art historical objects of our time one has to go above and beyond to obtain them,” said Abigail Asher, a partner at art advisory firm Guggenheim Asher Associates in New York, who wasn't involved in the transaction.

Griffin bought de Kooning's 1955 oil on canvas titled “Interchange” for about $300 million and Pollock's 1948 “Number 17A” canvas for about $200 million. The de Kooning fetched $20.7 million in 1989, then an auction record for the artist and more than three times the highest presale estimate of $6 million, according to Artnet, which tracks auction prices. Pollock's work was featured in a 1949 Life magazine article that helped make him a household name.

Both paintings went on display at the Art Institute of Chicago in September, said Amanda Hicks, director of public affairs at the museum. Griffin has been a trustee since 2004 and helped build the museum's Modern Wing, she said.

“Masterpieces in their own right, de Kooning's 'Interchange' and Jackson Pollock's 'Number 17A' had a tremendous impact at the moment of their making,” James Rondeau, director of the Art Institute of Chicago, said in an email.

Griffin — who has a net worth of $5.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and is the richest man in the state of Illinois, has been turning heads with art, real estate and philanthropic efforts.

In December, he donated $40 million to New York's Museum of Modern Art, one of the largest gifts in the institution's 85-year history. In February, Griffin paid $46.4 million for a 10-foot-tall painting by Gerhard Richter at Sotheby's, an auction record for the German artist. Citadel last week signed a lease for about 200,000 square feet in a new skyscraper on Park Avenue.

Griffin's flagship $15.4 billion fund, Citadel Wellington, returned 14.3% in 2015, scoring 31st among top 50 funds with more than $1 billion under management.

Geffen, whose art collection was valued at $2.3 billion before the transaction, recently put his Malibu beach house up for sale for $100 million. Last year, the entertainment mogul announced plans to donate $100 million to renovate and rename Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. It's now called David Geffen Hall.