Christie’s is bringing Antonio Homem Sonnabend’s collection to the market—a vast collection of postwar and contemporary art, photography, multiples, prints, and design—which will be offered in a series of auctions held in London, Paris, and New York between the fall and winter. The total value of the collection is estimated at over $50 million ( approximately 43 million euros), and the sales will include works by some of the leading figures of the American and European post-World War II art movements, including Jeff Koons, Bruce Nauman, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Gilbert & George, Jean Dubuffet, Anselm Kiefer, and Jean Prouvé.
The collection is directly linked to the history of the Sonnabend Gallery and to the figure of Ileana Sonnabend, one of the most influential gallery owners in the history of 20th- and 21st-century art. Antonio Homem Sonnabend, who passed away in March, was Ileana’s adopted son and, for over fifty years, worked alongside her and her husband Michael at the helm of the renowned gallery, helping to build one of the most significant platforms for the dissemination of contemporary art between Europe and the United States.
The Sonnabend Gallery’s journey was, in fact, characterized by its ability to forge transatlantic relationships and to connect artistic scenes, artists, and artistic languages that, until then, had circulated primarily within national or continental boundaries. Ileana Sonnabend helped bring to Europe some of the American artists who would go on to become central figures in contemporary art, including Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Rauschenberg. At the same time, she introduced some of the most radical artistic movements from Europe to the United States, featuring artists such as Gilbert & George, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Mario Schifano, and Giovanni Anselmo. The gallery owner’s work thus had an impact that extended beyond the promotion of the individual artists she represented. Through her gallery, Ileana Sonnabend helped intensify cultural and artistic exchanges across the Atlantic, changing the way the European and American art scenes viewed one another. Over the course of those same decades, she also built a private collection of extraordinary importance, which brought together works representative of some of the major artistic trends of the postwar period.
Following Ileana Sonnabend’s death in 2007, Antonio Homem Sonnabend helped establish the Sonnabend Collection Foundation, taking on the task of preserving and developing the legacy left by Ileana and Michael. For over fifteen years, his work has focused on postwar and contemporary art and on the conservation of the family collection, continuing a tradition that had its origins in the gallery’s activities. A new chapter in the collection’s history began in November 2025, when a permanent museum dedicated to the collection opened in Mantua. The Sonnabend Collection Mantua is housed in the historic Palazzo della Ragione, a medieval building located in the city center, and permanently displays approximately one hundred works from the collection. The museum thus preserves a significant portion of the Sonnabend legacy in a venue accessible to the public, ensuring the continuity of the public mission that has always accompanied the private collection.
The works destined for Christie’s auctions, on the other hand, will be dispersed through a program comprising several sales. The first opportunity for collectors will be in October, with the 20th/21st Century Evening Sale in London. Subsequently, an evening auction dedicated to prints and multiples will be held in New York. The schedule will continue in Paris with the “20th/21st Century: Paris Evening Sale,” which will also include the “Thinking Italian” section.
The bulk of the offerings is therefore destined for New York, where some of the collection’s most significant works will be presented during November’s Fall Marquee Week. The works will be included in the 21st Century Evening Sale and the Post-War and Contemporary Art Day Sale. Additional sales from the collection are scheduled for December and the following months, gradually completing the offering on the international market. Christie’s, as mentioned, estimates that the total sales could exceed $50 million. Two particularly significant works—a painting by Roy Lichtenstein and one by Andy Warhol—will also be sold by the Sonnabend Collection Foundation for a specific purpose: the proceeds will go toward establishing an endowment—that is, a permanent fund—intended to strengthen the organization and support its further development.
The family presents the decision to bring part of the collection to market as a carefully considered step tied to the desire to ensure the continuity of the Sonnabend legacy. Antonio Phokion Potamianos-Homem, son of Antonio Homem Sonnabend, emphasized that his father spent his life surrounded by these works and that parting with them is therefore not a decision taken lightly. “The new Sonnabend Mantova Collection,” he added, “is very close to our hearts, as it has enriched the city with important works by Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and Jeff Koons and, more recently, with the opening of the Gilbert & George exhibition. An ambitious series of international exhibitions dedicated to our family collection and the Foundation’s works will soon begin, starting with a major exhibition at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome this November. We are proud to carry forward Ileana and Antonio’s transatlantic vision, fostering a vital exchange of artists and works of art between Europe and America, and ensuring that the discerning eye that assembled this collection continues to be admired.”
The connection between the collection and the gallery’s history is one of the elements Christie’s also emphasizes. Sara Friedlander, head of the auction house’s Post-War and Contemporary Art department, highlighted the role played by Ileana Sonnabend in the development of postwar and contemporary art, as well as that of Antonio Homem Sonnabend, who joined the firm in 1968 to work alongside her and Michael. “He became a custodian and champion of one of the most important cultural legacies of our time,” she said. “The collection reflects the Sonnabend Gallery’s innovative program, featuring a wide range of exceptional paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, prints, and design objects that exemplify the best of postwar artistic movements in Europe and the United States. It was constantly evolving and in constant motion, with works regularly loaned to international exhibitions. It was a phenomenal private collection created to serve the public. We are delighted to once again play a role in preserving the Sonnabend legacy and look forward to offering collectors the opportunity to acquire works that once belonged to one of the most important and influential families in the history of art.”
The sale by Christie’s thus takes on a dual significance, relating both to the market and to the preservation of the Sonnabend legacy. On the one hand, dozens of works from one of the most important private collections linked to the history of contemporary art will enter the international auction circuit. On the other hand, part of the collection will continue to be on permanent display in Mantua, and the sale of two works by Lichtenstein and Warhol will help fund the Sonnabend Collection Foundation.
The family’s stated goal is to keep alive that unique vision of a collection and cultural exchange that characterized Ileana Sonnabend’s legacy: a collection capable of transcending geographical and disciplinary boundaries, of connecting European and American art, and of keeping the works in dialogue with the public through exhibitions, loans, and new exhibition initiatives. The collection’s new chapter will thus unfold simultaneously in the art market, museums, and cultural institutions, continuing a history that began with the Sonnabend Gallery and which, according to the family’s intentions, is meant to retain its transatlantic dimension to this day.
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| Christie’s is auctioning the collection of Antonio Homem Sonnabend |
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