Mickey Cartin’s collection heads to more than ten Christie’s auctions
More than 80 objects from Mickey Cartin’s collection will be offered across Christie’s auctions in New York, London and Paris from November through July 2027. The combined pre-sale estimate reaches up to $8 million. The selection spans contemporary art, Old Masters and rare books, including work by Roman Opałka, Walton Ford and Giorgio de Chirico.
Arts··Morning
A collection dispersed across three cities
Christie’s auction house will offer more than 80 objects from the collection of Connecticut-based American collector Mickey Cartin across more than ten sales in New York, London and Paris. The programme runs from November until July 2027. ARTnews reports that the combined estimate reaches up to $8 million. These are advance valuations, rather than proceeds already received. Cartin began collecting in 1988, assembling works across contemporary art, older painting and rare books.[1], [2]
Number painting and an early Netherlandish panel
Among the highlighted works is Roman Opałka’s OPAŁKA 1965/1 – Détail 3820343 -3843981, estimated at $400,000–$600,000. The painting belongs to his project of painting numbers towards infinity, conceived in 1965. Another selection is a fifteenth-century Netherlandish panel of the Resurrection of Christ by the Master of the Virgo Inter Virgines. Looted by the Nazis, it was later restituted to the heirs of Dutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker and had previously hung in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.[1]
Rare books extend the collection’s range
The books include Theuerdank, printed for Emperor Maximilian I in 1517, and German physician Georg Bartisch’s 1583 volume about eye disorders and surgery. Cartin’s longtime curator Steven Holmes describes his collecting as focused on individual objects rather than conventional categories. Selections had previously been exhibited at David Zwirner in New York in 2021, bringing together artists including Albrecht Dürer and Giorgio Morandi. Other works named for the coming auctions include Walton Ford’s 1996 watercolour Avatars – The Birds of India and Giorgio de Chirico’s 1950 self-portrait.[1]
