A hotly anticipated art collection has arrived at Christie’s from a secretive source—the Weis family, a husband-and-wife team of quiet mega-collectors whose trove of art (including treasures by Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst and Mark Rothko) has rarely been seen by the public.
Robert F. Weis, the late chair of the supermarket chain Weis Markets, and his wife, Patricia G. Ross, collected art for almost seven decades, keeping most of their caché tucked away at their Pennsylvania home in the Susquehanna Valley. Robert died in 2015. Following Patricia’s death last year, the couple’s three children are selling 80 works at Christie’s in November. They are collectively expected to fetch more than $180m.
Pablo Picasso’s La lecture (Marie-Thérèse) (1932) Courtesy Christie’s
In a statement, Colleen, Jennifer and Jonathan Weis said: “Growing up with this collection has brought us great joy and created a lifelong interest and passion for art. It has defined our family experience, and we have been lucky to live among these beautiful things.”
Christie’s secured the sale by offering to pay an advance for the collection to the tune of nearly $200m, according to The New York Times. Art insiders indicate that this financial promise signals great confidence in the collection, a beacon of hope in the midst of the industry’s general downturn. According to the research firm ArtTactic, the three major global auction houses—Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips—have seen a 6% contraction since the first half of 2024 as a result of changing tastes, geopolitical unrest and rising inflation. All eyes are now on the Weis sale as a potential pacesetter for the sector’s future.
One standout lot is Rothko’s No. 31 (Yellow Stripe) (1958), described by Sara Friedlander, Christie’s deputy chair of postwar and contemporary art, as “rapturous” and “joyful” and estimated at $50m. Other highlights include Picasso’s La lecture (Marie-Thérèse) (1932), estimated to fetch in around $40m, and Henri Matisse’s Figure et bouquet (Tête ocre) (1937), estimated between $15m and $25m. Further big-ticket items include a Fauvist landscape by Georges Braque and a painting by Piet Mondrian expected to sell in for between $20m and $30m.
Joan Mitchell’s Peinture II (1964) Courtesy Christie’s
Max Carter, Christie’s vice chair of 20th- and 21st-century art, describes the collection as “the best of Modernism”, remarking that “in few collections of its time or since will you find such thoughtfulness, interconnection and superlative quality”.
Christie’s chief executive, Bonnie Brennan, calls the collection “deeply personal and instilled with historical significance”.
Another important offering from Christie’s will come to New York on 30 September—the collection of Vivian Fusillo, a renowned scholar of performance with an undeniable zest for life. (She caught the eye of the fashion photographer Richard Avedon and travelled widely in her youth.) Fusillo’s collection includes a masterwork by the Abstract Expressionist legend Joan Mitchell, Peinture II (1964), which is expected to fetch between $2.5m and $3.5m at auction. A woman of great taste and style, Fusillo was drawn to bold, dynamic pieces, like a 1961 Larry Rivers painting of a Ford truck and an exquisite Jean Dubuffet drawing, Site urbain avec huit personnages (1981), estimated to sell for $50,000.
