Sotheby's auction house has put up for sale 12 impressionist and modern masterpieces from the collection of the Argentinean collector Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier, who died in 2020, The Guardian reports.

For years, the collection, which has been inaccessible to the public and has an almost mythical reputation, includes works by Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Paul Gauguin, Alfred Sisley, André Derain, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Maurice de Vlaminck. Sotheby's estimates that the total value of these paintings exceeds $450 million.

Among the most expensive examples are Vincent van Gogh's "Chestnut Trees in Flower" (1890), which was estimated at $180 million, as well as Cézanne's "Harlequin" ($150 million).

"Chestnut Trees in Flower" belongs to the late period of Van Gogh's creative work in Auvers-sur-Oise during a period of optimism and energy after his discharge from a psychiatric hospital at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. After his death in July 1890, this painting passed to his brother, Theo. A subsequent owner was George Gard “Buddy” DeSylva, the US songwriter and film producer who co-founded Capitol Records. It is one of eight paintings created in Auvers-sur-Oise that are still in private collections.

Philip Hook, a former director of impressionist and modern art at the auction house Sotheby’s, said the opening of the collection to buyers was a “historic moment,” as most of these works had long been in private hands and had never been exhibited.

Simon Shaw, a senior art adviser at Sotheby’s, said the collection felt “like a small museum – a miniature Musée d’Orsay, now opening its doors for the very first time.”

All 12 paintings have gone on display at Sotheby’s in London on Wednesday for two days before being flown to Taipei, then Hong Kong and Paris before the auction on November 18 in New York.