DETROIT – Billionaire shopping mall magnate and philanthropist A. Alfred Taubman died this past April at 91 and now his incredible art collection that he had been amassing since the 1950s will go on the auction block at Sotheby's in November.
The auction house, which Taubman once owned, estimates his collection will break all records when it comes to price. The last collection to break records was Yves Saint Laurent's at $477 million.
The top five sellers are expected to be: Pablo Picasso, "Femme assise sur une chaise," estimate $25-$35 million; Willem De Kooning, "Untitled XXI," estimate $25-35million; Amedeo Modigliani, "Portrait de Paulette Jourdain," estimate $25-$35 million. Mark Rothko, "Untitled (Lavender and Green)," estimate $20-30 million. Mark Rothko, "No.6/Sienna, Orange on Wine," estimate $20-30 million.
Bob DuMouchelle, of Detroit's venerable auction house Dumouchelle's, said a sale of this magnitude means it's go time at Sotheby's.
"There's got to be energy," he said. "From materials to the people handling the merchandise, the research, through anyone promoting it, they've got to have an extremely energetic atmosphere. It has to be an amazing feeling," he said.
Taubman, whose philanthropy was legendary, was a major donor to the Detroit Institute of Arts where there is a wing named after him. But his collection will go on the auction block, not to the museum.