We are talking BIG. The $676 million on Monday was only part I.
First up, from the New York Post:
It was a divorce for the history books.
The split of real-estate billionaire Harry Macklowe and his ex-wife Linda led to the richest night of art sales in Sotheby’s history on Monday, in a court-ordered auction to divide their assets.
When the final hammer came down, 35 lots of the embattled couple’s blue chip art, acquired over some 50 years, sold for $676 million.
But the Macklowes, who were married for 57 years, did not exactly celebrate in tandem. An insider told Page Six that Linda Macklowe (who is said to have had the real eye for art) was ensconced in a skybox at the auction, while Harry “worked the floor like a pro . . . He was having the time of his life.”
The source added: “The crazy part about this art sale is that it is only the first half of the collection. The rest comes up for sale in May.”
Though they made a beautiful collecting team, the Macklowes’ marriage was contentious. In her book “The Liar’s Ball: The Extraordinary Saga of How One Building Broke the World’s Toughest Tycoons,” journalist Vicky Ward wrote that they have been “heard to disparage each other and their marriage forcibly and publicly.”
While the auction house was packed with elite one-percenters, the real bidding action came over the phone via collectors from 25 countries around the globe. One of them, a mysterious Asian buyer, locked in Mark Rothko’s “No. 7” for a stunning $82.46 million — the auction’s highest sale.
Others who were bidding hard included, reportedly, members of the Qatar and Saudi royal families. A source from the auction told Page Six: “Many of the big pieces went to foreign buyers, and it is a big guessing game who bought which artwork.”Some purchasers, though, were less than secretive.
Cryptocurrency investor Justin Sun claimed via Twitter that he was the buyer of the $78.4 million Giacometti piece “Le Nez.” Sotheby’s reports that it as one of the highest prices ever realized by the artist. Sun plans on donating the work to a foundation that deals in NFTs.....
....MUCH MORE
The Pollock over the auctioneer's shoulder, “Number 17, 1951”, sold for $61,161,000.
Investment Hulk said "Frida Kahlo is overrated," a view I've held for quite a while but was too insecure to admit. Her Diego y yo caught a bid for $34.9 million though.
(FWIW, I. Hulk approves of the latest from the Central Bank of Jamaica.)
Next up, and remember this sale was only part I, we have Art Market Monitor with some of the pre-sale chatter.
November 3: "Deep Inside Sotheby’s $600+m Bet on Macklowe, Part 1" and November 8: "Deep Inside the Macklowe Sale: Koons, Richter, Polke and de Kooning (Part 2)"
Finally here are Sotheby's web pages (if you click through and look around, the ads that follow you are a cut above the internet average).
The press release, November 15: "White Glove Sale of The Macklowe Collection Totals $676 Million"
For prices realized in part I: "The Macklowe Collection"
