More than a dozen jewels from the collection of the late billionaire and philanthropist Elaine Wynn will come to auction at Christie’s in New York this autumn, though its crown jewel—Francis Bacon’s 1969 triptych Three Studies of Lucian Freud, which she bought for a then-world record $142.4m at Christie’s in 2013—has been bequeathed to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma). Christie’s expects the works from Wynn’s collection headed to the auction block to collectively bring more than $75m.
“My mother celebrated every piece that she collected,” Elaine’s daughter Gillian Wynn said in a statement. “She felt privileged to live with each and every one, but always understood that she was merely a temporary custodian. Good art moves and provokes us and then must live on to do the same for others.”
Lucian Freud, The Painter Surprised by a Naked Admirer, 2005, est $15m-$25m Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd.
Christie’s will get to move several trophy works during its 20th-century evening sale, 21st-century evening sale and post-war and contemporary day sale in New York in November. Two works consigned from Wynn’s estate have estimates of $15m to $25m: the playful late Lucian Freud studio scene The Painter Surprised by a Naked Admirer (2005) and the bright Richard Diebenkorn abstraction Ocean Park #40 (1971). The trove also includes two works with estimates of $12m to $18m: a Joan Mitchell painting that is more than two metres tall, Sunflower V (1969), and a J.M.W. Turner landscape painting—Ehrenbreitstein, or The Bright Stone of Honour and the Tomb of Marceau, from Byron’s Childe Harold (1835)—which is the earliest work from Wynn’s estate. In addition, the group includes a Wayne Thiebaud landscape painting, River Stretch (2000), which could bring between $3m and $5m, plus works by Olga de Amaral, Georges Seurat, Fernand Léger and others.
“We are humbled to steward this inimitable collection at Christie’s,” the auction house’s deputy chair for the West Coast, Sonya Roth, said in a statement. “Elaine Wynn’s tireless support for art institutions and educational organisations across the United States has had a deep and meaningful impact on countless lives.”
Richard Diebenkorn, Ocean Park #40, 1971, est $15m-$25m Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd.
For Wynn—who grew up between New York and Miami Beach, and died in April at age 82—philanthropy included her sustained efforts to create an art museum in her adoptive hometown of Las Vegas. Plans for such an institution have been set in motion in part thanks to a partnership with Lacma, where she served as co-chair of the board. A year ago, through a partnership between Lacma and Wynn, the Las Vegas Museum of Art was given a plot of land in downtown Las Vegas for a ground-up museum project estimated to cost $150m.
“Elaine was among the most generous and supportive leaders in Lacma’s entire history,” Michael Govan, Lacma’s director and chief executive, said in a statement. “She was our biggest champion, and was as passionate about accessibility to art as she was about works of art. Thanks to Elaine’s incredible generosity, Bacon’s masterpiece will belong to Lacma and the public.”
Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud, one of two triptychs he painted of his fellow artist, has not been publicly displayed since Wynn bought it at Christie’s in 2013 for what, at the time, was the largest sum ever paid for a piece of art at auction. It will go on view next April, when Lacma inaugurates its new $720m David Geffen Galleries building.
