The Macklowe Collection of art fetches $922.2 million, the highest total ever made a single private collection at an auction
Arguably one of the most important collections of art to ever appear on the market, the Macklowe Collection — formed real-estate mogul Harry Macklowe and his former wife, Linda, over five decades — achieved US$236.4 million on Monday night at a Sothe’s auction in New York.
Encompassing 65 works, the first sale of 35 works from the collection was held in November 2021, when the total price realised was $676.1 million. With the sale yesterday, the total garnered from the collection stands at a whopping $922.2 million. It exceeds the $835.1 million that the Rockefeller collection sold for in 2018, then the highest total ever a single private collection at an auction.
Speaking about the significance of the collection that includes works from the 20th and 21st centuries, Brooke Lampley, Sothe’s Chairman and Worldwide Head of Sales for Global Fine Art, stated: “The Macklowe Collection is a compendium of masterpieces like no other — its visceral and intellectual power proved completely irresible to collectors the world over.”
The collection had garnered worldwide attention during the divorce proceedings of Harry Macklowe and Linda in 2018, as they were unable to agree on how much the prestigious collection was worth, and were ordered the court to sell the works and share the profits.
The highlights of the sale on May 16 included Mark Rothko‘s Untitled, which fetched $48 million, and Gerhard Richter’s Seestuck, which went for $30.2 million. Andy Warhol’s Self Portrait sold for $18.7 million while Willem de Kooning’s Untitled went for $17.8 million. Willem de Kooning’s Untitled sold for $17.8 million.
During the November sale, several individual works came under the hammer for more than $50 million each. The highlights of that sale included Mark Rothko’s No. 7, which sold for $82.5 million, the second-highest price for a work the late abstract art. Albert Giacometti’s Le Nez achieved $78.4 million and Jackson Pollock’s Number 17, 1951, went for more than double its lower estimate, at $61.2 million, setting a new record for the art.
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