Macklowe Collection sets record with $676.1 million Sotheby's auction

On November 15, 2021, Sotheby's New York achieved the highest-value single-owner auction ever with the first tranche of the Macklowe Collection, totaling $676.1 million and selling 100% of 35 lots. The collection, assembled by real estate magnate Harry Macklowe and his ex-wife Linda, had been off the market for decades and sparked competition among major auction houses before Sotheby's secured it. Four lots exceeded $50 million: Mark Rothko's No. 7 (1951) sold for $82,468,500; Alberto Giacometti's Le Nez (1947/1965) for $78,396,000; Jackson Pollock's Number 17, 1951 for $61,161,000 (a new auction record); and Cy Twombly's Untitled (2007) for nearly $59 million. Twelve lots surpassed $20 million, and twenty exceeded $10 million, with an average price over $19 million. New auction records were set for Agnes Martin (Untitled #44, 1974, $17,728,800), Jackson Pollock, Robert Irwin, and Michael Heizer. Willem de Kooning's Untitled XXXIII (1977) doubled its low estimate at $24,393,000. Lucio Fontana's Concetto Spaziale, Attese (1965), with twelve cuts, sold above estimate for $12,788,100. Asian bidders were active, winning Giacometti, de Kooning, and Martin. Auctioneer Olivier Barker called it "a sale that auction houses dream of, probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience." A second part of the collection is scheduled for May 2022.