Single-Owner Sales Dominate a High-Stakes Auction Season in New York
Observer · · g5128581
Many of the works headed to the block later this month have not been in the public eye for decades or longer, and their arrival in New York represents an opportunity that may not come again for a generation.
Year round, the major auction houses compete to secure the season’s most valuable consignments. As New York’s November marquee sales approach, they finally announce which major private collections will head to the rostrum. With the great wealth transfer in full swing and a timid market consolidating around masterpieces, autumn has brought with it an unusual density of significant single-owner collections, many offering once-in-a-century opportunities to acquire museum-grade works.
Last week, Christie's unveiled new highlights from the collection of Agnes Gund , coming to the block in the 21st Century Evening Sale on Nov. 19 to further fund the Gund Art Foundation. The auction house has also secured works from the collection of Antonio Homem Sonnabend , including a monumental Jean-Michel Basquiat painting inspired by Leonardo da Vinci with an estimate in the region of $30 million. Other featured groups come from the collections of Laurence and Wilma (Billie) Tisch, Mickey and Edna Weiss, music executive Clive Davis , Herbert Lust , William I. Koch and an “anonymous” consignor who is widely known to be artist Jeff Koons .
Meanwhile, Sotheby's revealed the full scope of the storied Blaquier-Arrieta Collection, billed as one of the most important Impressionist and Modern collections ever to come to auction and expected to generate around $450 million. It joins an already substantial roster of single-owner offerings at the auction house this season, including Impressionist and Modern works from the collection of Armand Hammer ; approximately 50 works from the collection of Seattle-based philanthropists Richard and Elizabeth Hedreen ; and works from the collection of Theodore and Ruth Baum that trace the development of 20th-century creativity through artists including Mark Rothko, Joan Mitchell , Ed Ruscha and Andy Warhol .
Across its November consignments, Sotheby’s expects to bring in around $1.1 billion in art sales, while Christie’s estimates its marquee sales will achieve in excess of $800 million. Below, we dive into the most valuable collections coming to the block starting on Nov. 16 and the works expected to lead the sales.
Sotheby’s; Nov. 18, 2026 Sotheby’s most valuable consignment this season is one of the great private collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art. The Blaquier-Arrieta Collection , a group of 12 masterpieces, will be offered in a dedicated evening auction on Nov. 18. Leading the sale are Vincent van Gogh ’s Châtaignier en fleurs roses et blanches (1890), estimated at $180 million, and Paul Cézanne ’s Arlequin (1888-90), with an estimate in the region of $120 million. Both works are expected to set new auction records for the artists. Other highlights include Pierre-Auguste Renoir ’s En Canot (Jeune fille à la barque) ($25-35 million), Camille Pissarro ’s La Place du Théâtre-Français, soleil d’après-midi en hiver ($30-40 million), Edgar Degas ’s Avant la course ($20-30 million), Claude Monet ’s Le Jardin des Tuileries ($15-20 million) and Paul Gauguin ’s Fleurs dans une coupe ($10-15 million), alongside works by Alfred Sisley , Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec , André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck . Assembled by Argentine collectors Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier and her husband, Carlos Pedro Blaquier , the collection remained largely out of public view for decades, with many of the paintings hanging in the family’s residences outside Buenos Aires, accessible only to a limited circle. Often described as a kind of private Musée d’Orsay and possibly Argentina’s largest private art collection, it acquired an almost mythical status among collectors and dealers. Many of the couple’s paintings were acquired in the 1970s during trips to London and other European capitals, often through dealers such as Lefevre Gallery . That connection explains Sotheby’s decision to unveil the collection at its Bond Street galleries in London’s October art season, before the works embarked on an international tour ahead of the New York sale.
Christie’s; Nov. 19-23, 2026 In May, a group of works from the late Agnes Gund’s collection achieved a combined $150.8 million at Christie’s , led by Mark Rothko’s No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe) (1964), which sold for a record-breaking $98.4 million. The auction house is now offering another selection of works owned by Gund, with all proceeds again benefiting the Gund Art Foundation. Leading the group is Vija Celmins ’s Untitled (Ocean) (1990), a painting of the ocean’s surface in her celebrated photorealist style, estimated at $6-8 million. It is joined by Alexander Calder ’s 1963 mobile The Eye in the Black , carrying a $3-5 million estimate, and an untitled 1997 bronze by Cy Twombly , at $2-3 million. The works span the postwar and contemporary periods, with artists including Cecily Brown, Calder, Celmins, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein , Glenn Ligon , Jim Nutt , Robert Rauschenberg , Robert Ryman , Cindy Sherman and Sarah Sze . The sale is also a final expression of Gund’s philanthropic convictions. One of the most influential patrons of American art, she served as president of the Museum of Modern Art from 1991 to 2002, helping steer its institutional development and personally donating more than 800 works to its collection. But her commitment to art education and social justice extended well beyond the museum: in 1977, she founded Studio in a School, and in 2017 she contributed $100 million from the private sale of Roy Lichtenstein’s Masterpiece to establish the Art for Justice Fund .
Christie’s 21st; Nov. 19-20, 2026 Christie’s other star consignment this season is the collection of Antonio Homem Sonnabend, adopted son of dealer Ileana Sonnabend . He worked alongside her for decades, helping carry forward the vision of Sonnabend Gallery and its commitment to artists who reshaped contemporary art in Europe and the United States. After Ileana’s death, he continued to steward her legacy, co-founding the Sonnabend Collection Foundation and maintaining relationships with artists, estates, museums and collectors. The November offering is led by Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (Leonardo and His Five Grotesque Heads) (1983), estimated in the region of $30 million. Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s Renaissance drawing of five grotesque heads, the monumental painting has remained in Sonnabend’s private collection since he acquired it in 2006. In all, the collection is expected to bring in around a combined $50 million, with lots spread across the house’s 21st Century Evening and Day sales, following earlier offerings in Paris and the Prints and Photographs auctions in New York.
Christie’s; Nov. 17, 2026 A banker, author and scholar, Herbert Lust was known for his deep friendships with artists and his sustained engagement with their work. His relationship with Alberto Giacometti began when he was a young Fulbright scholar studying comparative literature at the Sorbonne, and the two remained close until the artist’s death. Lust later wrote a memoir about their friendship and produced important scholarly publications, including an annotated catalogue raisonné of Giacometti’s graphic work. At Christie’s, Lust’s collection of approximately 300 works valued at around $60 million reflects that intimacy with artists. It includes works by Giacometti, Frank Stella , Alexander Calder, Yves Tanguy , Roberto Matta , Sol LeWitt , Robert Indiana , Hans Bellmer , Mary Bauermeister and Enrico Baj . The top lot is Giacometti’s Figure, demi-grandeur (no. 2) (1949), estimated at $20-30 million, followed by Stella’s Les Indes Galantes (1962), estimated at $7-10 million. Bellmer’s Jointure de boules (La Poupée) (1934-36), one of the artist’s largest and most important 1930s constructions remaining in private hands, carries an estimate of $1.5-2.5 million. Other highlights include Indiana’s LOVE Wall (1968), estimated at $800,000-1.2 million; Calder’s Pomegranate Pods (1946), at $500,000-700,000; and Giacometti’s Chaise jaune dans l’atelier (1946), at $400,000-600,000.
Sotheby’s; Nov. 16, 2026 Sotheby’s also secured the collection of Theodore and Ruth Baum, expected to generate more than $100 million across the November sales and future auctions. Described by the auction house as insatiable storytellers and deeply committed art lovers, the Baums assembled an exquisite trove of post-war and contemporary art, shaped by their curiosity, international travels and close engagement with artists and galleries. Their collecting journey began in the late 1970s with a drawing by John Sloan and took a decisive turn in 1983, when they acquired the 1967 red canvas by Mark Rothko that now headlines the consignment with a $10-12 million estimate. Also leading the collection’s dedicated sale on Nov. 16 is Joan Mitchell’s vigorous abstraction Green Book of Barbara Guest (1960), estimated at $12-15 million. Acquired from Xavier Fourcade, Inc. in New York in 1986, it has remained with the couple ever since and was last seen in public while hanging in the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence in Helsinki from June 1965 to July 1968. Other top lots include Ed Ruscha’s Diple , a tribute to Ted Baum’s love of witty wordplay estimated at $10-15 million, and Andy Warhol’s The Scream (After Edvard Munch) , one of the most iconic examples of Pop’s appropriation of art-historical precedent, estimated at $4-6 million. Franz Kline ’s Figure (1956), which the couple bought at Sotheby’s in 1995 for $1.04 million, carries the same estimate, as does Alberto Burri ’s Sacco GA1 , also acquired at a Sotheby’s auction. Also worth watching is a sculpture by Marisol estimated at $200,000-300,000.
Christie’s; Nov. 17, 2026, and Feb. 17, 2026 The anonymous consignor in the Heroes & Lovers: Property of a Distinguished Collector sale didn’t stay that way for long. It’s an open secret that these nine works belong to Jeff Koons . Spanning five centuries, from the Late Gothic to 20th-century Modernism, the group carries a combined estimate in the region of $100 million. Seven works will go on the block in Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale on Nov. 17, with the remaining two, both Old Masters, slated to be auctioned during Classic Week in February 2027. Leading the group is Pablo Picasso’s monumental Le Baiser (1969), depicting two lovers locked in an embrace and estimated at approximately $40 million. It appeared in the National Gallery’s 2009 show “Picasso: Challenging The Past” in London and in “Picasso: Black and White,” which traveled from the Guggenheim Museum in New York to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in 2012. Most recently, it was included in Gagosian ’s Picasso exhibition in New York in 2025. (Koons acquired it at Sotheby’s in May 2008 for $17.4 million.) Other lots include Picasso’s Tête de femme (Dora Maar) (1941), a portrait of the artist’s longtime muse and most coveted subject estimated at $25-30 million; another Tête de femme ($10-15 million); and Couple (1969), estimated at $12-18 million. Rounding out the group is Édouard Manet’s pastel on canvas Femme au tub (circa 1878-79), which Koons bought at Sotheby’s in February 2014 for $1.4 million, in line with its current $1-1.5 million estimate. It was recently included in the exhibition “Manet and Modern Beauty: The Artist’s Last Years” at the Art Institute of Chicago and the J. Paul Getty Museum, and in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2023 landmark show “ Manet/Degas .” The Old Master gems Koons is parting with include Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem’s Hercules and Achelous (circa 1590), a monumental depiction of the mythological struggle drawn from Ovid’s Metamorphoses ($12-18 million), and Tilman Riemenschneider’s Saint Catherine (circa 1505), a finely detailed limewood sculpture carrying a $4-6 million estimate.
Sotheby’s; Nov. 18-19, 2026 and Dec. 9, 2026, with several 2027 sales The November sales of 12 works from the private collection of Armand Hammer will benefit the Armand Hammer Foundation, with combined group totals from the Modern Evening Auction and Modern Day Auction sales expected to generate $25-30 million. The American business executive’s interests were varied but broadly focused on European painting and sculpture. From 1971 to 1987, Hammer sent his collection, including some works headed to the block, on a long-running international tour that reached cities across the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America. This commitment to public access culminated in the founding in 1990 of the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, which preserves a significant part of his collection. Leading Hammer’s group is Edgar Degas’s Trois danseuses (Jupes jaunes) , estimated at $10-15 million. The collector acquired this widely exhibited and published Degas at Sotheby’s in 1969, two years before buying, also at Sotheby’s, a bright and joyful summertime scene by Mary Cassatt , offered with a $7-10 million estimate. Other works in the upcoming sales include paintings by Camille Pissarro and Pierre-Auguste Renoir; further lots will be offered in Sotheby’s London Old Master and 19th Century Paintings Evening Auction in December, with more to follow in 2027.
Christie’s; November 17-20, 2026 Clive Davis, the American music executive, record producer and four-time Grammy Award winner, may be best known for his extraordinary influence on the American music industry, but he was also an art collector with the ability to recognize talent and artistic significance across generations and genres. The seven-lot group heading to Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale includes Andy Warhol’s iconic portrait of Aretha Franklin , estimated at $2-3 million, and David Hockney ’s Hawthorne Blossom, Woldgate No. 4 (2009), a landscape from the artist’s Yorkshire series carrying a $7-9 million estimate. There are also a $10-12 million Joan Mitchell abstraction, Warhol’s portrait of David Hockney ($3-5 million) and Frank Stella’s Attica II ($3-5 million), along with George Condo’s On the corner ($800,000 – $1.2 million) and a large Motherwell ($1-1.5 million). Over more than six decades, Davis helped launch and shape the careers of artists including Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Alicia Keys, Janis Joplin and Patti Smith. His art collection reflects a similar openness to different visual languages, bringing together post-war abstraction, Pop portraiture and Neo-Expressionism. Further offerings in the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale and the Prints and Multiples sale put the expected total from the sale of works from Davis’s collection around $35 million.
Christie’s; Nov. 17-18, 2026 Following the January sale of William I. Koch’s Western American art at Christie’s , more of the billionaire’s holdings will hit the rostrum in the house’s 20th Century Evening Sale on Nov. 17. Leading the selection are Monet’s Champ d’avoine et coquelicots (1890) and Cézanne’s Tasse, verre et fruits (circa 1877), each estimated at $12-18 million. (Koch acquired the Monet in 1985 and the Cézanne in 1986, and both have remained in his collection ever since.) Other highlights include Matisse’s Jeune femme fardée à l’orientale (La bayadère) (1929), estimated at $5-7 million, and Degas’s Scène de ballet , at $3-5 million. The industrialist, businessman and collector has spent decades assembling what is considered one of the most diverse and extensive private holdings in the United States, spanning fine art, maritime artifacts, the American West, rare wine and historical memorabilia. The November selection is expected to bring more than $40 million across the evening, day and works on paper sales, adding to the $84.1 million achieved by the Western art sale in January.
Sotheby’s; Nov. 16-19, 2026, with 2027 sales to follow Sotheby’s is offering approximately 50 works from the collection of Seattle philanthropists Richard “Dick” Hedreen and the late Elizabeth “Betty” Hedreen across its November New York sales, the fruit of six decades of collecting. Leading the offering are Roy Lichtenstein’s Reflections on “Painter and Model,” estimated at $20-30 million, and Cecily Brown’s Untitled (Shipwreck) , estimated at $7-10 million, both in The Now Sale on Nov. 16. Acquired from Gagosian in 1993, the Lichtenstein comes to auction at a particularly timely moment, coinciding with the artist’s major survey now on view at the Whitney Museum. The work has been widely exhibited, including in recent presentations at the Fondation Beyeler and the Seattle Art Museum. Committed patrons in Seattle and across Washington State, the couple assembled a collection spanning the 15th century to the present day, with a particular interest in bringing Old Masters into conversation with Modern and Contemporary art. Further works will be offered in Sotheby’s Modern Evening Auction, followed by a dedicated Old Masters sale in February.
Phillips ’s; Nov. 17, 2026 One of the most important individual works to come to market this November is Amedeo Modigliani ’s Tête (1911-12), which is headlining Phillips’s Nov. 17 Modern and Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York with an estimate in the region of $30 million. Carved from a single block of limestone during the brief period when Modigliani devoted himself almost exclusively to sculpture, the work belongs to the artist’s celebrated series of elongated heads, considered the high point of his sculptural practice. Nearly 30 inches tall, it is among the largest examples of the series still in private hands. Most of the roughly 28 stone sculptures Modigliani carved during his lifetime are now in museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim in New York, Tate in London and the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris. This one has been in the same private Canadian art collection for more than half a century and is coming to auction for the first time. Drawing on ancient Egyptian, Cycladic and African art, as well as the innovations of early Modernism and his close friendship with Constantin Brancusi , Modigliani developed a distinctive sculptural language of elongated forms, simplified geometry and spiritual intensity. The series was conceived as part of Modigliani’s unrealized vision for a “temple of beauty,” in which the carved heads would function as caryatid columns.