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The sale of the estate of Bunny Mellon has been called the auction of the decade. In 2014, Sotheby's offered up more than 2,000 of her possessions over the course of three curated events, raising over $200 million for the Gerard B. Lambert Foundation. And now the auction house will be selling the late-society dame's art collection.
Works in the sale, which starts this month and continues through 2018, include pieces by Camille Pissarro, Nicolas de Staël, Winslow Homer, and Eugène Delacroix, many of which haven't been seen publicly in 50 years. Estimates for Claude Monet’s Champ d’iris à Giverny (below) stretch into the $3 to $5 million range.
At the auction three years ago, works by many of these same artists inspired "heated bidding battles," says Jeremiah Evarts, head of evening sales for Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern Art Department in New York. "It is a true honor and privilege to once again represent this great American family, and offer paintings that have since descended through the Mellon family."
Bunny Mellon, who was a dear friend of Jackie Kennedy's and helped to redesign the White House Rose Garden in 1961, died in 2014. She was 103 years old.
As the digital director for Town & Country, Caroline Hallemann covers culture, entertainment, and a range of other subjects
