(by Alessandra Baldini) (ANSA) - NEW YORK, 19 FEB - A Mark Rothko who had never before been seen in public and a self-portrait of AndyWarhol with a camouflage mask created nine months before he died: Sotheby's has begun to unveil new masterpieces of the collection whose second tranche will be auctioned in NewYork next May.
A legendary collection, dismembered to conclude a legendary divorce: after having traveled around the world from London to Palm Beach, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, 30 tradipaintings and sculptures collected by the builder Harry Macklowe and wife Linda in six decades of a famous wedding in New York for having passed the diamond wedding in spite of the problems often under the eyes of all.
When he then left the marital roof having fallen in love with a French girl 18 years younger, the judge intervened with a Solomonic decision: since the former spouses were not able to agree on the value of the works of art, the only solution would have been to sell and to divide the proceeds.
With an initial estimate of $ 600 million,
the fabulous collection had ended at Sotheby's: the first tranche, sold in November, had brought in 676 million dollars for 35 paintings and sculptures.
All lots had been sold at an average price of $ 19.3 million, putting the Macklowe collection on track to break the previous record set by Christie's four years ago when the Peggy and David Rockefeller legacy was sold for $ 832 million in May. a series of evenings.
This time, the director of the Barbican Will Gompertz and Eleanor Narne, a curator of the museum, presented five of the 30 new masterpieces on the market in a video.
The Rothko, with its dark burgundy tones, dates back to 1960, a critical moment in the artist's career, and starts with an estimate of 35-50 million, while the Warhol,
(HANDLE).