Sonnabend's Collection May Sell at Auction

NEW YORK—Ileana Sonnabend's son and daughter are considering selling her world-renowned art collection to pay taxes on her $400 million estate, reports Bloomberg. Both Sotheby's and Christie's are competing for the consignment, according to sources who declined to be named.

The New York dealer, who died in October at age 92, was, along with her first husband, dealer Leo Castelli, a major proponent of such important postwar artists as Rauschenberg, Johns, Warhol, Stella, and Judd. Her collection includes Warhol's Marilyn Monroe portraits, Johns's American flag painting, and Rauschenberg's Canyon, as well as works by contemporary superstars.

Taxes on the estate, valued at between $300 million and $400 million, could be more than 50 percent, according to an expert. Sonnabend's will instructs her executors — her son and daughter — to "sell any works of art" from the estate in order to pay administrative expenses, including taxes.

"The quality of the collection means that everybody who is anybody around the world would participate in the sale," said dealer David Nolan, who once worked at the Sonnabend Gallery in New York.