Christie's auction house will auction off the art collection of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in what it hopes will be the largest ever. The auction will sell 150 works of art with a 500-year shelf life.

The auctioneer hopes to raise over $1 billion, which will be allocated to charities, as Allen wished.

The collection includes masterpieces by Botticelli, Renoir, David Hockney and Roy Lichtenstein. The pieces will include La Montagne Sainte-Victoire by French painter Paul Cezanne, valued at more than $100 million.

Allen, who founded Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend Bill Gates, died in 2018 at the age of 65.

Christie's CEO Guillaume Cerutti assured that the auction, scheduled for November, would be like no other.

"The inspiring figure of Paul Allen, the extraordinary quality and diversity of the works, and the dedication of all proceeds to philanthropy create a unique combination that will make the sale of the Paul G Allen Collection an event of unprecedented magnitude," he said.

Allen left his role at Microsoft in 1983 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a rare form of cancer.

His relationship with co-founder Bill Gates had also deteriorated, but would improve later in his life. He remained on the board of the company until 2000.

Mr. Allen was successfully treated for his cancer, and founded a private company with his sister Jody, Vulcan Inc, which ran his business and philanthropy. He had a multi-billion dollar investment portfolio, including continued ownership of Microsoft stock.

In 2010 he pledged to leave most of his fortune to charity after his death. At the time, he was the 37th richest man in the world, according to Forbes magazine, with an estimated $13.5 billion.

He was treated for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2009, but it returned, and in 2018 he died from complications of the disease.