Jussi Pylkkänen Leaves Christie’s After 38 Years to Become Art Advisor

Jussi Pylkkänen, one of the world's most famous auctioneers, is leaving Christie's after 38 years to become an independent art advisor for new global collectors. The announcement was made by CEO Guillaume Cerutti on October 24, 2023. Pylkkänen will step down as Global President and will conduct his final auctions for Christie's: the 20th Century Evening Sale on November 9 in New York and the Old Masters Evening Sale on December 7 in London. Starting in 2024, he will work as an independent art advisor, focusing on a new generation of collectors. Pylkkänen joined Christie's over 30 years ago as a specialist in 20th-century art, later heading the Impressionist and Modern Art department, then serving as President for Europe, Middle East, and Russia, and from 2014 as Global President. He is known for auctioning the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci for $450.3 million in 2017, the Rockefeller collections in 2018, the Allen collection in 2022 (a single-owner record of $1.6 billion), and Andy Warhol's Shot Sage Blue Marilyn for $195 million in 2022.