Sting fans, listen up. Over 200 items from the fantastic art collection of the rock star and his wife Trudie Styler will hit the auction block at Christie’s London on February 24, 2016.
Who know that Sting was among the ranks of celebrity art collectors, who include Madonna, Leonardo Dicaprio, and Jay Z and Beyonce. This spring, Oprah Winfrey sold her collection at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers to benefit the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation for Girls.
Sting’s collection—amassed over the course of 20 years and encompassing a wide range of periods and styles from 20th century—demonstrates the couple’s passion for collecting paintings, prints, contemporary photography, and design furniture.
Artworks in Sting’s music room at his former Queen Anne’s Gate home in London.
Photo: via Christie’s
The sale is headlined by Ben Nicholson‘s March 55 (Amethyst) (1955), which has a presale estimate between £300,000–500,000 ($459,891–763,185). Henri Matisse’s Jazz portfolio (1947), which is considered one of the most important print series of the 20th century, is also hitting the auction block as part of the sale, with a presale estimated between £250,000–350,000 ($381,592–534,229).
Meanwhile, Pablo Picasso’s lithograph Le Corsage à Carreaux (1949), has a presale estimate between £30,000-50,000 ($45,791–76,318).
Zeng Chuanxing’s Paper Bride (White) (2007) in Sting’s former morning room.
Photo: via Christie’s
The singer also consigned prints by Georges Braque and René Magritte, and contemporary prints by Mimmo Paladino and Carsten Höller.
The highlight from Sting’s drawing collection is doubtlessly Gustav Klimt’s series Study of a Young Woman in Stockings (1906–07) which is expected to be hammered down at between £25,000–40,000 ($38,159–61,054).
The singer’s selection of contemporary works are led by Keith Haring’s Untitled (1984), with a presale estimate between £70,000–100,000 ($106,845–152,637), and Zeng Chuanxing‘s Paper Bride (2007) estimated at £30,000–50,000 ($45,791–76,318).
Keith Haring, Untitled (1984).
Photo: Christie’s via AFP
The musician is also offering a series of coveted photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe, including Calla Lilies (1983) which has a presale estimate between £30,000–50,000 ($45,791–76,318).
Rounding off the eclectic auction is the couple’s design furniture items, which include two of Yves Klein’s iconic pigment tables, Table Rose and Table Bleue which have a presale estimate between £20,000–30,000 ($30,527–45,791) each.
Other design highlights include mirrors by Line Vautrin and Piero Fornasetti, furniture by Jacques Adnet and George Nakashima and ceramics by Jean Besnard.
Yves Klein’s furniture, Table Bleu and Table Rose.
Photo: via Christie’s
According to the Telegraph, Sting and his wife decided to auction a chunk of their art collection shortly after selling their £19 million ($28 million) home in Queen Anne’s Gate, central London, last August.
This comes after Sting’s Broadway show The Last Ship flopped, closing ahed of time in January due to poor ticket sales. The couple—who, according to the Telegraph, also owns properties in New York, Tuscany, Malibu, and the Lake District—has moved to a new London apartment in the Battersea Power Station re-development, where property prices start at £3 million.
A source at Christie’s told the Telegraph: “Their children have moved on, they’ve sold their home for a smaller apartment. They feel it’s time for a change. […] Sting and Trudy are great art lovers and collectors and they will continue to be so. Collectors often sell their pieces and buy new ones.”