$600 MIllion Private Art Sale Pays For Estate Taxes

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Apr 5th 2008 at 8:02AM

Imagining inheriting more than a billion dollars worth in fine art. Sounds pretty nice right? Until you have to pay the taxes on that. The NY Times reports that the heirs of the legendary dealer Ileana Sonnabend have sold around $600 million worth of paintings and sculptures in a pair of private deals to cover their estate taxes. Works sold include pieces by Roy Lichtenstein, Cy Twombly, Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons, whose Rabbit sculpture, shown at right was part of the deal. Ms. Sonnabend died last October at the age of 92 and all the big auction houses and dealers have been clamoring for the honor of selling off her impressive collection.

The names the people who bought the art have not been revealed but insiders say that GPS Partners, dealers Franck Giraud, Lionel Pissarro and Philippe Ségalot bought $400 million worth of art on behalf of several clients and that a second group of just Andy Warhols was sold to the Gagosian Gallery for $200 million. It is assumed that GPS Partners and Larry Gagosian will then sell some of the works to many of the world's top collectors.

Sonnabend's heirs, her son and daughter, will try to hold on to as much of the collection as they can including Robert Rauschenberg's 1959 "Canyon" which cannot be sold because it features a stuffed bald eagle and that would violate the federal prohibition on trafficking in endangered species.

[Thanks, Lana]

Tags: art, gagosian, ileana sonnabend, jeff koons