Antonio Homem Sonnabend's $50 Million Collection Heads to Christie's, With Works by Koons and Warhol

Key facts

• The Antonio Homem Sonnabend Collection is estimated to achieve more than $50 million at auction.
• The sale will take place at Christie's this fall during the 20th/21st Century Evening Sales in London, Paris, and New York.
• Antonio Homem Sonnabend, who died in March, was the adopted son of art dealers Ileana and Michael Sonnabend.
• Works in the sale come from the family's private collection and were produced mainly between the late 1950s and 1960s.
• Highlighted works include Warhol's Campbell's Soup Can (Turkey Noodle) (1962), Rauschenberg's Triple Rauschenberg [Bob Rauschenberg #2] (1962), Johns's Numbers (1957), Koons's Ode to Love (2010–17), and Schifano's A de Chirico (1962).
• Two pieces by Lichtenstein and Warhol from the Sonnabend Collection Mantova will be sold to build an endowment for the museum, which opened in northern Italy in 2025.
• Ileana opened Sonnabend Gallery in New York's Soho in 1971 with Antonio's help, sharing a building with Leo Castelli, John Weber, and André Emmerich; the gallery moved to Chelsea in 2000.
• Antonio took over as gallery director after Ileana's death in 2007 and established the Sonnabend Collection Foundation in 2009.