Koons Balloon Soars to Auction

LONDON—Balloon Flower (Magenta), a signature work in Jeff Koons's celebration series, is slated to go on the auction block at Christie's in London on June 30, where it is estimated to bring $23.5 million, reports the New York Times. Owned by Dallas collectors Howard and Cindy Rachofsky, who paid about $1.1 million for it seven years ago, the work is being sold to increase holdings in other areas of their collection, including important postwar and contemporary works.

While the Rachofskys' collection, including an 11,000-square-foot modern house by Richard Meier, was pledged to the Dallas Museum of Art in 2005, they had an agreement with the museum that their collection could evolve during their lifetime. In 2001 the Rachofskys sold Woman in Tub (1988), another Koons from their collection, at Christie's, using the $2.8 million it fetched to help pay for Balloon Flower (Magenta) and a considerable arte povera collection.

The market for large Koons sculptures has been hot lately, with the most notable sales being Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold) going for $23.5 million at Sotheby’s and Diamond (Blue) for $11.8 million at Christie’s in New York last November, both to Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk. The decision to sell Balloon Flower (Magenta) in London is strategic one: A large number of collectors from the Soviet Union own homes there, including Pinchuk.