Microsoft Art On Show

For the first time, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has opened up his private art collection. Twenty-eight works, some not seen in public for more than 50 years, will be on display under the same metallic roof that holds some of the other cool stuff that Allen has collected. Down the hall from Renoir, Seurat and Picasso is Jimi's guitar, Darth Vader's helmet and Michael Jackson's jeweled glove. A lush Renoir portrait of a young woman next to a giant Roy Lichtenstein cartoonlike painting of a blonde bombshell. Fifteenth-century Flemish painter Jan Brueghel The Younger is grouped with Georges Seurat, the 19th-century pointillist, and Pablo Picasso, the famous cubist. A tranquil Monet water lily painting hangs next to a fiery, angry painting by American abstract expressionist Willem de Kooning. Museum officials expect about 100,000 people to view the exhibit in the six months it will be in Seattle. Based on its success here, the show may go on the road to other museums. Allen, one of the richest men in the world, is famous for his acquisitiveness. Besides artwork and rock and sci-fi artifacts, his worldly goods include antique aircraft, books, downtown Seattle real estate, software company startups, mega-yachts and pro sports teams. For the full story - click the title Irish Art