In this NY power couple's divorce, art collection worth $922 mn is the ultimate winner

The famed Macklowe art collection, which was the subject of a bitter divorce battle between a New York real estate Moghul, Harry Macklowe and his ex-wife, became the most expensive art collection ever sold at auction on Monday.

Sotheby's sold its second offering of works from the collection for $246.1 million, bringing the total value of the group of paintings to $922.2 million, a spokesman told AFP. That exceeds the $835.1 million that the Rockefeller collection sold for in 2018, then the highest total ever made by a single private collection at auction.

Among the highlights of Monday evening's sale were Mark Rothko's 'Untitled,' which fetched $48 million and Gerhard Richter's 'Seestuck', which went for $30.2 million.


Andy Warhol's 'Self Portrait' sold for $18.7 million while Willem de Kooning's 'Untitled' went for $17.8 million.

Sotheby's won the rights to sell the Macklowe works back in September. It sold 35 of the pieces in November for $676.1 million before selling the remaining 30 on Monday.

Sotheby's had described the paintings as the "most significant collection of modern and contemporary art to ever appear on the market."

During divorce proceedings, Macklowe and his ex-wife Linda had been unable to agree on how much the vast collection was worth. A New York judge ruled in 2018 that the they should sell all 65 works and split the profits. Works of Pablo Picasso, Cy Twombly, Willem de Kooning, Alberto Giacometti, Gerhard Richter and Agnes Martin were also up for bid.