Christie’s to Auction 16 Works From S.I. Newhouse Collection Expected to Reach $450 Million

Christie’s will sell 16 works from the private collection of S.I. Newhouse on May 18 in what the auction house projects will rank among the most valuable single-owner sales in auction history. The collection features works by Jackson Pollock, Constantin Brancusi, Pablo Picasso and Jasper Johns.

It is expected to fetch roughly $450 million. Combined with recent sales from the rest of the collection, the total could top $1 billion. A spokesperson for Christie’s said Newhouse collected fearlessly and always sought the best and most significant examples of modern art rather than settle for lesser works.

The centerpiece of the sale is a large-scale Jackson Pollock drip painting that the auction house says will be the first work of its kind ever offered at auction. Pollock died in his mid-40s and most of his drip paintings are held by museums. The sale also includes a rare golden Brancusi sculpture described by the auction house as emblematic of the birth of modernism.

Each of those two works is estimated to sell for around $100 million. Newhouse, who died in 2017 at age 89, built one of the great private art collections of the modern era using the same approach that helped him expand his publishing business. Alongside his brother he controlled Advance Publications, the family-owned company founded by their father in 1922.

Its holdings included Condé Nast, publisher of Vogue, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, as well as newspapers and stakes in cable and entertainment businesses. An adviser to the Newhouse family said the collector focused on acquiring the highest quality works that expressed what the artist wanted to say at the peak of creative output.

The adviser added that Newhouse was disciplined in reshaping the collection over decades, selling some works, reacquiring others and refining holdings. The decision to sell was driven by practicality. The seller is 88 years old and has lived in a large apartment for over 40 years.

The seller stated it was time to downsize so that other people could enjoy the art. Newhouse’s pursuit of art was fueled by competition, scholarship and instinct. He sometimes revisited earlier decisions after gaining more knowledge. In one case he initially turned down a Pollock painting because it appeared damaged by kitchen smoke and grime.

Years later, after learning about restoration techniques and the work’s rarity, he purchased it at a higher price than would have been possible earlier.

The auction arrives as the high-end art market has shown signs of slowing after years of record-breaking sales. The auction house is betting that the rarity and provenance of the Newhouse collection will attract demand from museums, billionaires and major collectors worldwide.

The benchmark for such sales remains the 2022 auction of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s collection at Christie’s, which surpassed $1.5 billion and became the most valuable art auction ever held. For decades the Newhouse works hung in the family’s Manhattan residence as part of daily life.

They are now expected to disperse into museums and private collections globally.