The furniture and objects of art from the six-floor Manhattan townhouse owned by late Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace are set to be sold in a series of auctions beginning this spring at Sotheby. The fashion designer who was shot to death outside his Miami mansion in 1997 barely lived in the townhouse it took him two years to renovate. Before moving in, Versace had bought most of the contemporary art and furnishings including European furniture, Sevres china and Italian glass and visualized the exact place where the pieces of art would go.
The designer was in possession of the collection of Impressionist, Modern and contemporary art that will also be included in Sotheby’s auctions. Some of the highlights include paintings by pop-artist Roy Lichtenstein, his painting "Blue Nude" (1995) decorating the entrance of the townhouse, paintings by Andy Warhol, Henri Matisse and Edgar Degas as well as watercolors by Marc Chagall and Raoul Dufy.
"Versace picked everything out himself; he was very involved," Tobias Meyer, Sotheby's director of contemporary art told the New York Times. "While it all fits within the Versace universe, these paintings will stand on their own."
“This collection reflects Mr Versace’s wide ranging taste and impeccable eye, and many of the works were commissioned directly from the artists,” Meyer said.
The 45 pictures will be sold in three auctions in New York and one in London and are offered for sale by the holding company for the Versace family. The fine art collection which is being sold at Sotheby’s is valued at $12.3 million to $17.4 million, a spokeswoman for the auction house told Newsday. The sale of the items from Versace’s Miami house Casa Casuarina, conducted 2 years after the designer’s death brought more than $10 million.
"Gianni Versace's home in New York is a sanctuary of sophistication," Elaine Whitmire the specialist in charge of the sale, said in a statement. "Where the Miami house was filled with bold colors and patterns, New York is very architectural and appropriately reflective of the city."