Nearly three years after the high-profile divorce proceedings of New York real estate developer Harry Macklowe and his wife, Linda, a large portion of their eye-popping billion-dollar art collection is coming to market.
Estimated to fetch over $600 million in total --"the highest estimate ever placed on any collection to come to auction," according to Sotheby's -- the collection of 65 artworks include those from Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Alberto Giacometti, Jeff Koons, Mark Rothko and Cy Twombly.Courtesy of Sotheby's
"It's a collection that has never been moved touched," said Grégoire Billault, chairman of contemporary art for Sotheby's, at a press event."Quite often, when we have collections for sale, a lot of it has been sold already, or some are given to museums; others are given to members of the family." The world's most expensive sculptures to sell at auction, from an ancient lioness to a stainless steel rabbitaccrued all of their significant assets together, including a $72 million dollar apartment, a yacht and multiple commercial properties, according to court documents. They started their art collection shortly after they married.
The court decision set off a battle between auction houses Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips to bring the collection to market; the appointed art dealer, Michael Findlay, delayed the decision last year due to the pandemic,