Macklowe Auctions Total $922 Million, Collection Surpasses Rockefeller Estate as Priciest Ever Sold

Taken together, the Macklowe trove managed to topple the previous, $835 million record set four years ago by the 1,500-piece estate of banking scion

David Rockefeller

and his wife, Peggy Rockefeller. Whereas the Rockefeller estate was packed with more porcelain dishes than Pablo Picasso paintings and took Christie’s 10 sale days to unload, the Macklowe holdings mainly comprised 20th-century masterpieces prized by today’s global billionaires.

“What else are you going to invest in right now?” said Sotheby’s Chief Executive

Charles Stewart

after Monday’s sale. “Art doesn’t evaporate, and the people who came out tonight knew they were getting quality works.”

The Sotheby’s sale is the latest sign that the art market remains on fire even as the broader economy faces volatility. Sotheby’s Macklowe sale follows Christie’s $1.4 billion sale last week that saw a Warhol sell for a record-setting $195 million, the most ever paid at auction for a work by a U.S. artist. New York dealer Larry Gagosian won the Warhol, but it couldn’t be learned whether he was bidding on behalf of someone else.

“We’re in a moment now where people want art created in the last few years, but that makes classic contemporary look like a great opportunity,” said private dealer Anthony Grant following Monday’s sale at Sotheby’s. “I bid on three things and only won one.” Mr. Grant lost out on paintings by Mr. Twombly and Sigmar Polke but won an untitled, $1.4 million Donald Judd.

Heading into Monday’s sale, Sotheby’s had to face down some challenges. Last fall, news of the Macklowe consignment featuring works by Alberto Giacometti and Jackson Pollock was initially met with giddy enthusiasm. Six months later, the house had to make sure collectors remembered to double back for this second batch, mostly pieces with smaller asking prices. No works sold Monday topped the $82.4 million paid last fall for the Macklowes’ Rothko “No. 7” or their $78.4 million Giacometti “Nose.” Still, a telephone bidder paid Sotheby’s $48 million for the maroon-and-lavender Rothko abstract from 1960, over its $35 million low estimate.

Gerhard Richter’s 1975 “Seascape,” which shows a cloudy sky over mauve-colored waves splashed across a canvas nearly 10 feet wide, sold for $30.2 million. It was expected to sell for at least $25 million. Warhol’s camouflage 1986 “Self-Portrait,” created a few months before he died, sold for $18.7 million. The 80-inch square work was expected to sell for at least $15 million.

Two bidders vied for Cy Twombly’s 1968 “Synopsis of a Battle,” a piece from the artist’s “Blackboard” series, whose notations seek to map out historic battles by Alexander the Great and others. Of the five battle-scene Blackboards Twombly created, two belong to the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. The Macklowes bought theirs in 1979, in part because it was the only battle-themed Twombly to come to auction in more than 30 years, Sotheby’s said. It sold for $15.3 million on Monday.

Mr. Macklowe was spotted in Sotheby’s skybox watching the bidding in the crowded salesroom, dotted with dealers and collectors like Carson Guo. The sale aims to serve as a court-ordered finale to the former couple’s divorce proceedings.

Mr. Macklowe was selling magazine ads when he married Linda in 1959, according to court papers. Eventually they started buying art, adding higher-price pieces as his career in real estate and her work as an independent curator and philanthropist took off. Now in their 80s, he remains a high-profile developer of skyscrapers such as 432 Park Ave. and she is a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Since they began divorce proceedings in 2016, the sifting of their assets has become the subject of regular tabloid fodder—particularly after Mr. Macklowe hung 42-foot high photographs of him and his second wife, Patricia, whom he married in 2019, from the side of 432 Park Ave. Auction proceeds will now be evenly split, according to a court filing.

Linda Macklowe declined to comment.

After the sale, Mr. Macklowe said he “found it so satisfying” to see people chasing after works he lived with for decades. “I build skyscrapers, but I’m so proud to have built this nearly $1 billion collection, too.”

Sotheby’s spring series will continue Tuesday with a modern art sale estimated to top $340 million, and Phillips will follow Wednesday with its own estimated $170 million evening sale.

Write to Kelly Crow at kelly.crow@wsj.com

Taken together, the Macklowe trove managed to topple the previous, $835 million record set four years ago by the 1,500-piece estate of banking scion

David Rockefeller

and his wife, Peggy Rockefeller. Whereas the Rockefeller estate was packed with more porcelain dishes than Pablo Picasso paintings and took Christie’s 10 sale days to unload, the Macklowe holdings mainly comprised 20th-century masterpieces prized by today’s global billionaires.

“What else are you going to invest in right now?” said Sotheby’s Chief Executive

Charles Stewart

after Monday’s sale. “Art doesn’t evaporate, and the people who came out tonight knew they were getting quality works.”

The Sotheby’s sale is the latest sign that the art market remains on fire even as the broader economy faces volatility. Sotheby’s Macklowe sale follows Christie’s $1.4 billion sale last week that saw a Warhol sell for a record-setting $195 million, the most ever paid at auction for a work by a U.S. artist. New York dealer Larry Gagosian won the Warhol, but it couldn’t be learned whether he was bidding on behalf of someone else.

“We’re in a moment now where people want art created in the last few years, but that makes classic contemporary look like a great opportunity,” said private dealer Anthony Grant following Monday’s sale at Sotheby’s. “I bid on three things and only won one.” Mr. Grant lost out on paintings by Mr. Twombly and Sigmar Polke but won an untitled, $1.4 million Donald Judd.

Heading into Monday’s sale, Sotheby’s had to face down some challenges. Last fall, news of the Macklowe consignment featuring works by Alberto Giacometti and Jackson Pollock was initially met with giddy enthusiasm. Six months later, the house had to make sure collectors remembered to double back for this second batch, mostly pieces with smaller asking prices. No works sold Monday topped the $82.4 million paid last fall for the Macklowes’ Rothko “No. 7” or their $78.4 million Giacometti “Nose.” Still, a telephone bidder paid Sotheby’s $48 million for the maroon-and-lavender Rothko abstract from 1960, over its $35 million low estimate.

Gerhard Richter’s 1975 “Seascape,” which shows a cloudy sky over mauve-colored waves splashed across a canvas nearly 10 feet wide, sold for $30.2 million. It was expected to sell for at least $25 million. Warhol’s camouflage 1986 “Self-Portrait,” created a few months before he died, sold for $18.7 million. The 80-inch square work was expected to sell for at least $15 million.

Two bidders vied for Cy Twombly’s 1968 “Synopsis of a Battle,” a piece from the artist’s “Blackboard” series, whose notations seek to map out historic battles by Alexander the Great and others. Of the five battle-scene Blackboards Twombly created, two belong to the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. The Macklowes bought theirs in 1979, in part because it was the only battle-themed Twombly to come to auction in more than 30 years, Sotheby’s said. It sold for $15.3 million on Monday.

Mr. Macklowe was spotted in Sotheby’s skybox watching the bidding in the crowded salesroom, dotted with dealers and collectors like Carson Guo. The sale aims to serve as a court-ordered finale to the former couple’s divorce proceedings.

Mr. Macklowe was selling magazine ads when he married Linda in 1959, according to court papers. Eventually they started buying art, adding higher-price pieces as his career in real estate and her work as an independent curator and philanthropist took off. Now in their 80s, he remains a high-profile developer of skyscrapers such as 432 Park Ave. and she is a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Since they began divorce proceedings in 2016, the sifting of their assets has become the subject of regular tabloid fodder—particularly after Mr. Macklowe hung 42-foot high photographs of him and his second wife, Patricia, whom he married in 2019, from the side of 432 Park Ave. Auction proceeds will now be evenly split, according to a court filing.

Linda Macklowe declined to comment.

After the sale, Mr. Macklowe said he “found it so satisfying” to see people chasing after works he lived with for decades. “I build skyscrapers, but I’m so proud to have built this nearly $1 billion collection, too.”

Sotheby’s spring series will continue Tuesday with a modern art sale estimated to top $340 million, and Phillips will follow Wednesday with its own estimated $170 million evening sale.

Write to Kelly Crow at kelly.crow@wsj.com