Ukranian billionaire Viktor Pinchuk has revealed he was a major buyer at Damien Hirst's record-breaking $200 million Sotheby's sale last month, but has declined to say exactly what he purchased. Pinchuk, who's worth an estimated $5 billion, has his own museum in Kiev, the first private institution of its kind in the former Soviet Union, which already houses works by Hirst, Jeff Koons and Vuitton collaborator Takashi Murakami. He says he plans to display his new Hirst acquisitions at the Pinchuk Center in the spring.

"Victor Pinchuk is having a great impact on the [art] market," Simon de Pury, chairman of auction house Phillips de Pury & Co., who credits him with starting the oligarch art collecting trend, tells Bloomberg. "The contemporary art market in both Ukraine and Russia has really taken off in the past two years, and I expect this growth to continue." Earlier this year Pinchuk paid a record $150 million for a house in London, the world's most expensive at the time.

Our friends at Kempt spotted Dasha Zhukova, Russian oligarch / Luxist mascot Roman Abramovich's gorgeous 27-year-old girlfriend, partying with supermodels and movie stars at an A-list art gallery opening in Moscow the other night. Zhukova (right) rubbed elbows with the likes of Russian supermodel Natalia Vodianova (left), sexy star of several ad campaigns, at the opening for megabucks art dealer Larry Gagosian in a former chocolate factory. As we reported recently, Abramovich has bankrolled a new Moscow art gallery for Zhukova, which will mount a major Francis Bacon exhibition in 2010. At the Gagosian show, works by the likes of Jeff Koons and Vuitton collaborator Takashi Murakami were on display.

Esquire magazine has just named Luxist mascot Roman Abramovich one of the 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century. The honor comes on the heels of the lovably profligate oligarch's advancement to 8th place on Vanity Fair's list of the world's 100 most powerful people, as we reported earlier this month.

The magazine cites Abramovich's rise from hawking rubber duckies at Moscow's open-air markets to a multi-billionaire oil kingpin, art collector extraordinaire, megayacht owner, Putin confidant, and so on.

Also landing slots on Esquire's list, which appears in the October issue and is not ranked, are Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, ruler of Dubai and one of the world's richest royals; luxury goods tycoon Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH; and provocative artist Jeff Koons, whose work sells for millions.

Art world provocateur Jeff Koons has ruffled feathers in France by installing his immense, kitschy statues in the storied Palace of Versailles. The groundbreaking exhibition, which opened Wednesday and runs through December, features 17 Koons works including a giant balloon dog, enormous aluminum lobster, and a ceramic ode to Michael Jackson and his pet chimp Bubbles. As my colleague Deidre Woollard reported previously, Koons' 3,500 lb. Hanging Heart sculpture fetched $23.4 million at auction in November.

The opening of the exhibition drew a crowd of protestors who consider the Koons show an affront to France. "This exhibit is sacrilegious and insulting to the symbols of the Republic and its art," Arnaud-Aaron Upinsky, president of the Union Nationale des Ecrivains de France, fumed to the AP. However Koons insists he has "complete respect for Versailles [and] complete respect for each individual coming to Versailles."

Steve McQueen is the art world's new King of Cool. The British filmmaker whose recent project Hunger won the prestigious Caméra d'Or award at Cannes, adds another prominent award to his collection: Gucci Group's annual recognition of an international artist who makes a significant contribution to film. And this year's group of nominees -- Julian Schnabel, Isaac Julien and Adam Yauch -- provided staunch competition indeed.

Robert Polet, Gucci's CEO and President, presented the award to McQueen during the 65th Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy. The committee included some of the world's greatest arbiters of style, Italian Vogue's Franco Sozzani, the artist Jeff Koons, actress Isabelle Huppert, Yves Saint Laurent's creative director Stefano Pilati and the artistic director of the Venice Film Festival, Marco Muller.

This has got to be one of the stranger luxury craft plying the waters: Guilty, the 115-ft. yacht Greek billionaire Dakis Joannou commissioned from art world superstar Jeff Koons. Joannou, an industrialist who owns one of the world's finest collections of contemporary art, had Koons' design executed by Italian yacht builder Ivana Porfiri.

Though Koons' colorful scheme calls to mind the Pop Art paintings of the late Roy Liechtenstein, Joannou says the design is actually based on a WWI camouflage pattern. After the yacht's completion, Joannou came across a text painting entitled Guilty by British artist Sarah Morris, which he immediately purchased to decorate the yacht. The eye-popping craft which was recently spotted on its maiden voyage in Monaco.

[via Monaco Eye]

A rare Francis Bacon triptych that has never before been seen in public and has never been offered at auction is expected to fetch over $20 million during Christie's Contemporary Art Sales in London at the end of the month. Painted in Paris in 1975, Three Studies for a Self Portrait (above) is similar in character to the Bacon triptych that sold for $28 million at Christie's last month. Also starring in the sales on June 30 through July 1: Lucian Freud's Naked Potrait with Reflection, one of the most important works by the artist ever to be offered at auction, est. $20 million - $30 million; Jeff Koons' Balloon Flower (Magenta), 1995-2000, the most important Koons work ever offered at auction in Europe, est. about $25 million; Andy Warhol's Nine Multicolored Marilyns, est. $5 million - $7 million; and Jean-Michel Basquiat's Trunk, painted in 1982, est. $2 - $3 million.

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]

I've talked a lot about Jeff Koons as an artist but what about Jeff Koons, art collector. The artist, whose monumental work, Hanging Heart, brought in $23.4 million at auction last fall, is also an avid collector and his taste might surprise you. The baby-faced artist, who traffics in large works of kitschy pop, puts some of his earnings back into the art market spending big on the traditional masters. The Art Newspaper reports that Koons paid $6.3 million at Sotheby's in New York for a the work shown at right, a large limewood carving of St Catherine, dating from around 1505, by German 16th-century sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider. He is also said to be the lender of an 1866 Gustave Courbet nude to the Metropolitan Museum's current exhibition on the French artist. He bought that painting last June at Sotheby's for around $3.2 million. It's sort of comforting to know that while Koons is benefiting from the booming art market he's also having to pay the same exorbitant prices that everyone else is facing right now.

If you can't afford one of Jeff Koons's monumental works you can content yourself, or the art lover on your holiday list, with a book on his workds. The Jeff Koons monograph includes a catalog of his work which is organized to tell his story through pictures. There are 100 limited art edition copies with an original artwork by the artist. The book is 606 pages and measures a hefty 13" x 17¼". It sells for $1,000.

If the art market is any indicator of the economy it looks like things are pretty secure. Overall the fall art auctions in New York City ended up strong with the only down note being the Impressionist sale last week at Sotheby's which had the misfortune to take place on the day the stock market took a serious dip. Analysts now say the auction was just an isolated episode although at the time the auction house's stock plummeted. Sotheby's had a much better night with their contemporary art auction, it brought in $316 million, above expectations. The big star of the auction was one big work, Hanging Heart by Jeff Koons which went for $23.4 million setting a auction record for an artist who is still alive besting Damien Hirst who garnered the title last June. Two Francis Bacon pieces also sold for a combined $79 million.

The Hanging Heart is done in high chromium stainless steel weighs over 3,500 pounds and is almost nine feet tall. It was the second monumental piece that Koons sold during the fall auctions. His giant faceted blue diamond sculpture sold at Christie's for $11.8 million. Both pieces were bought by Larry Gagosian who is the art dealer for Jeff Koons.

[Thanks, Lana]

Could it be a coincidence that the stock market rebounded and Christie's had a great night at their postwar and contemporary art on Tuesday in New York? After the rather iffy returns after the Sotheby's auction last week mainly people were afraid that the numbers on the postwar and contemporary art auctions this week might not be so strong, especially since the contemporary is often the most volatile end of the market. No worries at Christies, they brought in $325 million, smack in the middle between the presale estimates of $271 to $373 million.

The stars of the show were a blue-and-ornange painting by Mark Rothko which sold for $34.2 million. Other top-selling artists included media darling Richard Prince, the nearly always bankable Lucian Freud and the art world's clown prince Jeff Koons whose "Blue Diamond" went for $11.8 million.

This sale even had a Hollywood angle in the form of a 1963 turquoise Andy Warhol portrait of actress Elizabeth Taylor that belonged to Hugh Grant. The painting sold for $23.6 million which was below its $25 million low estimate. Last week, Christie's had a strong night followed by a disappointing evening at Sotheby's. Judging by today's stock market dip, they just might be in for a bumpy night.

[Thanks, Lana]

If you aren't ready to invest in contemporary art, how about drying yourself off with it? Target and Art Production Fund have created this set of four beach towels for the Artist Towel Series 2008. The artists featured are Kehinde Wiley, Elizabeth Peyton, Cindy Sherman, and Jeff Koons. The towels are part of Works on Whatever items which are designed by contemporary artists to bring art into everyday life The 60 x 70-inch cotton towels will be available for $50 on Target.com and worksonwhatever.com starting November 19. The towels will also be the official pool towels at the Raleigh Hotel during Art Basel Miami Beach December 5 to 9. Proceeds from sales benefit Art Production Fund's support of major civic artwork projects and half of all proceeds from Koons' towel will also support the Koons Family Institute, which is a resource of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.

This week delivers another set of economic indicators in the form of the prices earned in the big sales at Sotheby's and Christie's in New York. The next few weeks bring us the sales in Impressionist, modern, postwar and contemporary art at the competing houses. Many will be watching these auctions as an indicator to see if the art market, which has been booming over the last couple years, is headed for a fall. These are the first big art sales since the sales that take place in May each year. Traditionally the May sales are larger. The Financial Times mentions that collectors could spend up to $2 billion in the sales, an amount almost three times above the level reached just two years ago.

The art market tends not to fall all at once. Generally it's the new kids, the contemporary art, which loses value first. This art is often beloved by younger collectors, the Wall Street guys looking for something trendy and hot. Jeff Koons, whose heart is shown at right and Damien Hirst are two who have commanded huge prices recently (Hirst is currently the world's most expensive living artist). The Impressionist and modern artists, the Monets and Picassos of the world won't be plummeting in value any time soon.

The good thing about a Monet or a Van Gogh is that you can probably find space for it in your home. It's not quite so easy with some of the works by today's artists such as Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons. Case in point, Koon's big bright Hanging Heart (Magenta and Gold) which will be auctioned off on November 14 at Sotheby's New York as part of their Contemporary Art Sale. This beauty in high chromium stainless steel weighs over 3,500 pounds and is almost nine feet tall.

Koons employs a large stable of artists and this work and took over 6,000 man hours to produce. The work is on display at Sotheby's this week through Sunday, October 8th, by private appointment. When it sells it is estimated to bring $15/20 million. I wonder if that includes shipping and installation.

[via Elite Choice]