Turner’s Western Art Collection Heads to Auction for Conservation

A collection of Western landscape paintings once displayed at Ted Turner’s Flying D Ranch in Montana will be auctioned at Christie’s in New York on January 20. The sale is estimated to bring in about $20 million, with proceeds going to the Turner Foundation, which supports conservation and environmental stewardship.

The works include paintings by Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran, whose sweeping scenes depict places such as Yosemite Valley and the Grand Canyon. Turner’s son, Teddy, said his father valued the paintings as expressions of the natural world and sought perfection in the art he kept around him.

Turner, who founded CNN and died in May at 87, was also known for acquiring ranches across the American West and supporting bison restoration. His Montana ranch spans 178 square miles, and bison now number about 45,000 across properties managed by Ted Turner Enterprises.

The Turner family said parting with the paintings was difficult, but that the sale would allow others to appreciate them while helping continue Turner’s conservation work. Art historian Nika Elder noted that the landscape paintings emerged from government expeditions tied to westward expansion, which brought profound changes to the lands and Native communities.

The foundation’s 2025 filings listed more than $2.7 million in grants, including funding for organizations focused on cranes, birds and grouse.