Dividing the estate after a divorce is not always easy, but the settlement is not as spectacular as with the New York billionaire couple Macklowe. Their joint art collection, which includes works by Picasso, Mark Rothko and Andy Warhol, was partly auctioned on Monday. Revenue: 676 million dollars (594 million euros).
An American judge had ordered the sale of the art collection after real estate magnate Harry Macklowe and his ex-wife Linda could not agree on the value of their collection, several report international media.
The bumbling ex-couple must divide the hundreds of millions fairly. The Macklowes were married for 57 years. The marriage ended in 2016 when Harry ran off with his illegitimate girlfriend.
Harry’s divorce attorney had previously stated in court that the collection of modern and contemporary art 60 to 75 percent of the Macklowes’ total wealth, Curbed, a real estate website writes. Their shared bank account would have been ‘only’ 1.37 million dollars (999,000 euros) — that amount was already fairly divided.
The value of the art collection turned out to be a crucial factor for the divorce settlement. Linda, who holds an honorary position at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, wanted to sell the artworks piece by piece. Harry didn’t like that. Because they could not agree on the total value of their art collection, the judge decided that the collection should be auctioned.
Pinocchio
Of the 35 pieces that were auctioned by auction house Sotheby’s, it appeared No.7, An colorful painting by Mark Rothko, the most valuable. The painting sold for $82.5 million, according to business magazine Forbes the second highest price ever paid for a work by the artist. Expectations were highest for Le Nezu by Alberto Giacometti, a sculpture with a nose that rivals that of Pinocchio. It was sold for more than $78 million. Furthermore, works of art by, among others, Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Agnes Martin were auctioned for millions each.
The New York Times previously wrote that the art collection so big is that they didn’t fit in their out-of-town villa and their gigantic New York home, which consists of seven conjoined apartments. A second auction of the Macklowe collection will follow in May 2022, where thirty pieces will be put under the hammer.
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