Sotheby’s unveiled its record-breaking $1.173 billion Marquee Week sale last month to unprecedented attendance – lines stretched around the block from the moment the new Breuer Building headquarters opened on November 8, with more than 25,000 visitors passing through in just one week. Auction houses appear to have gained a new and widespread popularity, attracting audiences beyond the general crowd of the art world
Now, “Icons: Return to Madison” brings together some of the most widely known works sold by the auction house over the years. Masterpieces acquired by private collectors and museums will return to Sotheby’s for an exhibition that will be on display at the new Madison Avenue store from December 13 to 21, the first of its kind in partnership with Etihad Airways. With this exhibition, Sotheby’s appears determined to preserve the rich museum legacy of the Breuer Building, using its landmark space not only to showcase the art history-defining artworks and collections to be auctioned, but also to celebrate the auction house’s own institutional history and the role it plays in preserving its historical resonance.
One of the highlights was Banksy’s Love in the trash can (2018), the only work of art created live in the auction room, partially shattered itself in a thoroughly Duchampian gesture when the Sotheby’s hammer came down for a record price of £1.04 million. While Sotheby’s staff admitted they were unaware the frame had been altered – Banksy subsequently released a behind-the-scenes video revealing the mechanisms hidden within – the auction house and the sale itself played a key role in shaping the work’s meaning and afterlife.
Also included in the exhibition are works by Jean-Michel Basquiat Untitled (1982) sold for a record-breaking $110.5 million in 2017, the highest price ever paid for an American artist at auction. Although the work was reportedly purchased by Japanese collector Yusaku Maezawa, it may have since changed hands, as the painting now appears to be by billionaire Kenneth C. Griffin. It is widely believed that it was Griffin who pushed Basquiat’s market over the top through several landmark acquisitions, resetting the comparability at the top. Originally owned by the Annina Nosei Gallery in New York, the painting was later sold to Phoebe Chason, who sold it to Alexander F. Milliken in 1982 for $4,000. It remained out of public view until 1984, when it was sold at Christie’s to Emily Spiegel and Jerry Spiegel for $19,000. When the work, created by Basquiat when he was 21 and at the height of his career, resurfaced at Sotheby’s in 2017, it far exceeded its pre-sale estimate of $60 million.
Works by Andy Warhol also courtesy of Griffin Photography Orange Marilyn (1964), silkscreen with bullet holes from unauthorized performance at the factory. The work was sold at Sotheby’s in 1998 for an anonymous price of more than $17.3 million. As Nate Freeman reports in Vanity Fair following Christie’s 2022 auction Shooting Sage Blue Marilyn Griffin acquired the company for approximately $195 million Photography Orange Marilyn Former Sotheby’s specialist and large-scale dealer Tobias Meyer orchestrated a private auction that fetched approximately $240 million from the Si Newhouse estate. In a 1998 BBC article, Meyer, then a young Sotheby’s specialist, called the work a “smart purchase,” likely echoing the same sentiment years later while facilitating one of the most emblematic transactions of the century.
Meyer described in the same article Photography Orange Marilyn Equivalent to de Kooning, Jasper Johns or the important Picasso. All three appear in the play, which includes de Kooning’s seminal work Interchange (1955) with Jasper Jones false start (1959), both courtesy of Griffin. Created during de Kooning’s critical transition from the “Women” series to more gestural, landscape-changing abstractions, Interchange Griffin acquired the painting from David Geffen in 2016 for about $300 million, according to independent reports by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The painting last appeared at a Sotheby’s auction in 1989, when it sold for $20.68 million, setting an auction record for a living artist. johns false startMeanwhile, the work last sold at auction in November 1988 for $17.05 million, setting an auction record for a living artist at the time, before being acquired by Griffin from the Geffen Foundation in 2006 for a reported $80 million.
Returning to New York from the collection of the Yageo Foundation in Taiwan is a 1929 work by Piet Mondrian Composition No-II and Francis Bacon’s Three studies for portraits of Lucian Freud (1969). The former was sold for US$51 million at Sotheby’s in 2022, setting a new auction record for Mondrian; this painting is one of only three works with the red square in the upper right corner as the theme, and is also one of the only works that remains in private hands. This painting survived World War II in France and subsequently followed the artist to the United States in 1950. Bacon’s triptych last sold at Sotheby’s in November 2003 for $3,816,000, but its price has increased significantly since then: Another work recently sold Three studies for portraits of Lucian Freud The work was sold at Christie’s on November 12, 2013 for $142.4 million (including buyer’s premium), which remains an auction record for the artist.
Also reappearing in the exhibition is Jane Birkin’s original Hermès Birkin bag, which sold for more than $10 million this summer, drawing renewed attention to the rising value of rare luxury goods. The record buyer was Japanese resale industry entrepreneur and former professional football player Shinsuke Sakimoto, who reportedly purchased the bag in the name of his company, Value Japan. Another rare collectible on display is Louis Comfort Tiffany’s Medusa pendant necklace (circa 1904), was loaned from the Tiffany & Co. archives after reappearing at Sotheby’s in 2021 as part of an auction of the Schocken Family Collection. It was estimated at US$100,000-200,000 and sold for US$3.65 million, setting a new auction record for Louis Comfort Tiffany jewelry.
Courtney Kremers, Sotheby’s Vice Chairman and Senior Specialist in Postwar and Contemporary Art “‘Icons: Return to Madison’ is more than just an exhibition; it reflects Sotheby’s long-standing legacy and marks the return of Madison Avenue, a center of art, culture and collecting for generations,” told the Observer. She added that by reuniting some of the most outstanding works Sotheby’s has ever sold, including works from private and museum collections, some of which are on view for the first time in decades, the auction house offers audiences a unique opportunity to appreciate masterpieces that have shaped the global collecting landscape. “Putting these works together transforms the Breuer Museum into a space of discovery and underscores Sotheby’s enduring place in New York’s cultural landscape.”
As part of its strategy, Sotheby’s will collaborate with Phaidon to publish a book containing 100 of the most iconic works ever sold by the auction house. ‘Icons’ merchandise, designed in collaboration with British artist Angelica Hicks, will be for sale at the exhibition and includes sketchbooks, note cards, stickers and clothing. Sotheby’s will also publish with Phaidon Breueris the definitive monograph on Marcel Breuer and his legacy, showcasing Sotheby’s new world headquarters in New York.
To capture the holiday spirit, Sotheby’s teamed up with Tom Martin to create a custom painted ornament featuring a snowy streetscape off Bloor Street, a move that perhaps signals Sotheby’s goal of competing with the major seasonal attractions on Fifth Avenue, from the historic light shows at Saks and Bergdorf Goodman to the festive looks of Cartier and Tiffany’s down the street.
Sotheby’s will also launch “Swinging in the Stars: The Private Collection of Katherine and Bing Crosby” ahead of the December 18 sale – a festive presentation focusing on celebrity culture and lifestyle. The sale, drawn from the couple’s personal collection, will feature items across a range of price points, including Catherine’s holiday attire, including her ivory Jean Louis coat Bing Crosby Christmas Showto the fine and decorative arts favored by Bing, as well as Hollywood memorabilia, such as the Ellard grand piano from the film High societyrare pieces by Sir Alfred Munnings and Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot as well as rare pieces by Fabergé, including Catherine’s Aventurine Quartz Lion and Sapphire Mouse.
What’s striking is how Sotheby’s manages to balance museums and luxury brands globally, employing a form of intentional brand dilution designed to expand its symbolic capital and target audience across price tiers in an economy shaped by content, experience and spectacle.
All in all, the launch appears to be a successful manifestation of Sotheby’s “new world” experience, with the auction house opening boutique-style flagship stores in venues in Hong Kong, Paris and now New York, with fully cross-category luxury environments designed to appeal to an audience well beyond traditional art world insiders – a target audience that may not buy at auction, but will interact with the Sotheby’s brand on other levels, whether purchasing one-of-a-kind jewelry or purchasing exhibition souvenirs.
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