{"id":3892,"date":"2025-04-15T20:21:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T20:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/15\/daniella-luxembourgs-30m-collection-leads-sothebys-may-auctions\/"},"modified":"2025-04-15T20:21:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T20:21:14","slug":"daniella-luxembourgs-30m-collection-leads-sothebys-may-auctions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/15\/daniella-luxembourgs-30m-collection-leads-sothebys-may-auctions\/","title":{"rendered":"Daniella Luxembourg\u2019s $30M Collection Leads Sotheby\u2019s May Auctions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Elegant
Daniella Luxembourg\u2019s New York townhouse was designed by Jacques Grange. Sotheby’s<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As auction houses scramble for quality consignments, many private collectors are holding tight in a climate of market uncertainty and waiting for top-tier collections from established dealers\u2019 private holdings to hit the auction block this season. As part of the New York marquee auctions, Sotheby’s<\/a> is poised to offer fifteen exceptional works from the private collection of Daniella Luxembourg<\/a>, the Israeli art dealer and founder of the eponymous Luxembourg+Co gallery. Featuring work by some of the most prominent names of the Italian postwar period alongside American contemporary masters such as Alexander Calder<\/a> and Claes Oldenburg<\/a>, the collection is expected to generate $30 million. Titled \u201cIm Spazio: The Space of Thoughts\u201d in homage to the groundbreaking 1967 exhibition curated by Germano Celant<\/a> that launched the Arte Povera movement, the single-owner sale will open Sotheby\u2019s Contemporary Evening Auction<\/a> in May.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI have always seen collecting as an instinctive, deeply personal journey. I was never drawn to a single movement or name but rather to works that spoke to me viscerally\u2014pieces with energy, tension, and stories waiting to be unraveled,\u201d Luxembourg said in a statement. \u201cThese artists were carrying the flag of modernism in a different way by reinventing a new vocabulary. There is something so straightforward, sophisticated and beautiful\u2014without wanting to be beautiful\u2014and it touched me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the chaos of tariffs and broader geopolitical and economic unrest, the dealer clearly sees this as the opportune moment to release these masterpieces\u2014likely looking to capitalize on a rare drought of significant consignments, particularly in terms of postwar and contemporary heavyweights.<\/p>\n

\"A\"A
Lucio Fontana, Concetto spaziale, La Fine di Dio<\/em>, 1963; estimate: $12-18 million. Sotheby’s<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A common thread running through the collection is the pioneering investigation these artists pursued into space and materiality, challenging the dominance of the flat picture plane and dismantling painting\u2019s conventional boundaries. Fueling these radical aesthetics was the era\u2019s scientific ferment and groundbreaking discoveries\u2014most notably, the space race and the seismic shift in visual imagination sparked by the first moon landing, which redefined the understanding of matter, light, energy and the very notion of space itself.<\/p>\n

A defining piece in this sense is the rare gold Concetto Spaziale, La Fine di Dio<\/i> by Lucio Fontana<\/a>, which comes to auction with a remarkable estimate of $12-18 million. The work is part of his iconic thirty-eight-piece series La Fine di Dio<\/i> (The End of God), created between 1963 and 1964 for seminal exhibitions in Zurich, Milan and Paris.<\/p>\n

Among the rarest series to appear on the market\u2014particularly in its gold version\u2014the work\u2019s seemingly lunar surface, punctuated by craters, exemplifies Fontana\u2019s pursuit of a new space within and beyond the picture plane. \u201cI do not want to make a painting; I want to open up space,\u201d the artist famously stated. \u201cCreate new dimensions, tied in the cosmos as it endlessly expands beyond the confining plane of the picture.\u201d Last May, Sotheby\u2019s offered another Fine di Dio<\/i> from the esteemed Rachofsky Collection<\/a>, a 1964 example in yellow\u2014one of only four\u2014which sold for $22,969,800 against a $20-30 million estimate. The current record for the series remains the $29.2 million result set at Christie\u2019s<\/a> New York in 2015 for another yellow version.<\/p>\n

\"Two\"Two
Alberto Burri, Nero Cretto<\/em>, 1976; estimate: $2,500,000-3,500,000. Sotheby’s<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another major highlight of the sale is the monumental black Cretto<\/i> by Alberto Burri<\/a> from 1976, which Sotheby\u2019s will offer with a $2.5-3.5 million estimate. Part of a series of thirty-seven large-scale works\u2014and among only nineteen the artist created entirely in black\u2014the piece is the first monumental example to appear at auction in over a decade and one of the largest ever offered on the secondary market. Evoking rifts and fissures left by traumatic tectonic movements and earthquakes, the Cretto<\/i> series stands as a culmination of Burri\u2019s poetic and alchemical exploration of materials, transforming the natural cracking of pigment into a powerful conceptual and psychological metaphor for an entire historical moment.<\/p>\n

On the American side, Sotheby\u2019s will offer a signature example of Alexander Calder\u2019s aerial and organic approach to sculpture, exploring how form interacts with and responds to its surrounding environment, much like living organisms in nature. Presented with a $5-7 million estimate, the black mobile Armada<\/i> from 1945 testifies to Calder\u2019s singular ability to merge engineering and lyricism in a balanced orchestration of motion, space and sculptural harmony.<\/p>\n

\"Gallery\"Gallery
\u201cThe Space of Thoughts\u201d presented at Sotheby\u2019s Milan. Sotheby’s<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other standout lots include a vinyl soft sculpture by Claes Oldenburg (estimate: $1,000,000-1,500,000); an early mirror piece by Michelangelo Pistoletto<\/a> from 1969 titled Maria nuda<\/i>, inspired by neoclassical nude figures (estimate: $1,000,000-1,500,000); and Luciano Fabro<\/a>\u2019s Sullo stato<\/i> (1970), a critical and material investigation of the shape of Italy, which has an estimate of $700,000-1,000,000.<\/p>\n

Art dealer collections are expected to lead the May auction season<\/h3>\n

Daniella Luxembourg\u2019s art collection won\u2019t be the only one hitting the block this May. While no official announcement has been made yet, rumors have been circulating that both Sotheby\u2019s and Christie\u2019s have been in negotiations to secure Barbara Gladstone\u2019s private collection after the legendary dealer passed away last summer<\/a>. As Artnet senior reporter Katya Kazakina<\/a> reported last month<\/a>, a large part of the dealer\u2019s collection is comprised of seminal works by the artists her namesake gallery represents, including era-defining names such as Joan Jonas<\/a>, Matthew Barney<\/a>, Carroll Dunham<\/a>, Ugo Rondinone<\/a>, Shirin Neshat<\/a>, and Wangechi Mutu<\/a>. The gallery also represents major estates, including those of Robert Mapplethorpe<\/a>, Robert Rauschenberg<\/a> and Jannis Kounellis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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SEE ALSO: A Legacy of Resistance: Niomar Moniz Sodr\u00e9 Bittencourt\u2019s Collection Nets \u20ac11.3M at Sotheby\u2019s<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Gladstone was also known to own a rare black flower painting by Andy Warhol<\/a>, seen in photos of her home, and was an avid collector of Richard Prince<\/a>, having acquired significant examples from his Nurse<\/em> and Jokes<\/em> series, according to sources. As of publication, Gladstone\u2019s estate attorney, Michael Stout<\/a>, has not responded to calls or emails seeking comment. Sotheby\u2019s and Christie\u2019s have likewise declined to comment, but many in the industry expect the announcement that Gladstone\u2019s collection will headline the May sales to appear any day now.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Daniella<\/p><\/div>\n