Sotheby’s is auctioning the collection of the divorcing New York developers Harry and Linda Macklowe this fall. The highlights of the sale will include works by Cy Twombly, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol and Alberto Giacometti. The 65 works included in Macklowe’s collection will be offered across two designated sales at the auction house’s New York headquarters.
The first exhibition will be held on November 15 and the second one will be held in May 2022. The collection coming to the auction is estimated in excess of $600.
Andy Warhol’s Nine Marilyns (1962), a black and white silkscreen depicting nine repeated publicity photographs of Marilyn Monroe, is estimated at $40 million–$60 million; Cy Twombly’s billboard-sized canvas Untitled (2007), featuring red flower forms painted on a white background is estimated at $40 million–$60 million; and Gerhard Richter’s painting Seestück (1975), a grey-toned blurry seascape, is estimated at $25 million–35 million. Works by Brice Marden, Agnes Martin, Jeff Koons, and Sigmar Polke, and other artists will be included in the two sales.
A Rothko painting and Giacometti sculpture from the collection are expected to become two of the most expensive artworks sold at auction this year. Giacometti’s Le Nez (1947), a bronze sculpture of a bust that hangs suspending in an open steel cage, and Rothko’s No. 7 (1951), a three-color painting featuring stacked blocks of nude pink, chartreuse, and orange, both have estimates upon request. They are valued at around $70 million each.
“This collection was assembled with an unparalleled eye for several decades,” said Sotheby’s CEO Charles Stewart in a press conference announcing the sale, “it will make history as one of the defining moments of the art market.”
Sotheby’s chairman for contemporary art Grégoire Billault said the collection is out of the ordinary, not only for its quality but due to the fact that it has been kept intact for so many years. “I’ve never seen this,” said Baillaut, “It is a group of works that have been kept together as a proper treasure.”
The Macklowe sale comes to the market with the highest estimate ever placed on a single collection at auction. It rivals the Rockefeller collection sale at Christie’s in 2018, which made $832 million, against an estimate of $500 million.
News of the sale comes months after art dealer Michael Findlay, the court-appointed receiver overseeing the distribution of the Macklowes’ art collection, decided to postpone the sale of the couple’s holdings in March 2020 due to the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic.
News of the sale comes months after art dealer Michael Findlay, the court-appointed receiver overseeing the distribution of the Macklowes’ art collection, decided to postpone the sale of the couple’s holdings in March 2020 due to the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic.
