Leonardo DiCaprio has decided to take a break from his Great Gatsby promotions to work with Christie's for an auction. DiCaprio's Christie's auction seeks to raise $18 million to benefit environmental conservation and endangered species protection. DiCaprio and Christie's are putting the works of some of today's most respected contemporary artists to benefit the environment.

DiCaprio's fundraiser is called the 11^th Hour Auction and will occur on Monday, May 13, Reuters reported. The Christie's auction will feature works by Bansky, Robert Longo, Peter Beard, Elizabeth Peyton, Ed Ruscha, and Julian Schnabel.

Some of the more notable works up for auction include Zeng Fanzhi's "The Tiger," Mark Grotjahn's "Untitled (Standard Lotus No. 11, Bird of Paradise, Tiger Mouth 44.01," and Bharti Kher's "The Skin Speaks A Language Not Its Own." 

E Online noted that DiCaprio is donating "Ocean V" by Andreas Gursky to the auction.

Loic Gouzer, international specialist at Christies, said in an interview, "A lot of the works of this quality have never been at auction. We have what we believe are conservative estimates. It is going to be the biggest one-time environmental fundraiser ever."

The auction has been in the works for a year, and is expected to be the largest of its kind benefiting the environment.

DiCaprio said in a statement, "Nature is abundant and it is resilient, but we have to take action now to protect our planet before it is too late."

Di Caprio has been interested in supporting environmental causes for a long time. He narrated and executive-produced The 11^th Hour in 2007, a documentary that raised awareness about the disappearing habitats of endangered tigers.

The 'Great Gatsby star's charity, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, plans to work with environmental experts to determine which conservation projects will benefit from the auction sales.

After the auction concludes, DiCaprio is expected to resume his promotional tour for The Great Gatsby.

Although The Great Gatsby received mixed reviews, DiCaprio's co-star, Isla Fisher, had nothing but praise for the Gastsby actor. Fisher told Access Hollywood, "Leo is the most perfect Jay Gatsby. He brings to it a childlike innocence. His obsession with Daisy doesn't feel mentally ill. It's just sort of passionate and misguided, but still romantic."

"Leo's fabulous in everything - he's one of the greatest actors of our generation. But he has gone further than you could ever have imagined with this character, and really made [Gatsby] so multi-dimensional, and so flawed and so vulnerable, and yet so macho and sexy - everything you want in Gatsby."

Leonardo DiCaprio's movie The Great Gatsby hits theaters today.