The rare contemporary art collection of recently deceased author, Michael Crichton, was auctioned off last week at 20 Rockefeller Plaza by Christie’s Auction in New York. The collection included more than 90 works by Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Pablo Picasso and Roy Lichtenstein.

Doctor and author Michael Crichton is best known for his fictional novels, many of which have been turned into blockbuster hits like Jurassic Park and Congo. He also wrote a novel and screenplay that was eventually adapted for television in the popular series ER, which had tied with Cheers (1982) for being the most Emmy-nominated show ever with 117 nominations, in 2007.

Crichton began accumulating his little known post-war contemporary art collection in the 1970s when he moved to Los Angeles to direct movies. According to Ken Tyler, who founded the print shop Gemini G.E.L. and worked with artists like Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg and Johns, Crichton and the aforementioned painters had something in common: A fascination with the way things work.

Crichton befriended the artists whose works he purchased. He often dropped by the Gemini G.E.L. print shop while the artists were there. Michael Crichton and Jasper Johns got along particularly well. Johns had been famous for his pop-art American flag paintings, the most famous of which Crichton bought and placed in his bedroom in Beverly Hills. It was last shown to the public 18 years ago when it was lent for an exhibition in London.

The author often hired art handlers to move the pieces to different parts of his house. They say he moved them around to keep them fresh in his mind.

His death was a result of a battle with throat cancer which was kept hidden from the public eye.

Michael Crichton’s art collection took most of four decades to accumulate and only a weekend to auction off.

View a previously written post by Mouli Cohen about the Arts.