The opening chapter of the $1.1 billion New York evening sale unveiled 16 exceptional works from the celebrated collection of S.I. Newhouse, the influential publishing magnate behind Condé Nast and one of America’s most expansive media empires. While Christie’s has previously presented selections from the late collector’s holdings, this marked the first occasion the house enlisted Nicole Kidman for a cinematic campaign, a striking homage centred on Constantin Brancusi’s luminous Danaïde, one of the evening’s most anticipated masterpieces. Inspired by Man Ray’s 1930s film portrait of Lee Miller, the promotional piece captured Kidman in an atmospheric, almost dreamlike encounter with the sculpture, reinforcing the enduring dialogue between art, fashion and film that has long defined the Newhouse legacy.

The market response proved equally theatrical. Danaïde achieved $107.6 million with fees, decisively surpassing Brancusi’s previous auction benchmark of $71.2 million moments after bidding opened. A monumental Jackson Pollock painting, among the few works of its scale still remaining in private hands, emerged as the evening’s highest-selling lot, realising $181.2 million with fees to sustained applause. The result eclipsed the artist’s former auction record of $61.2 million set in 2021, reaffirming the enduring appetite for museum-calibre Abstract Expressionism.

The sale’s exceptional breadth further underscored the sophistication of the Newhouse collection, with masterworks by Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg contributing to the evening’s momentum and prestige. Among single-owner collections, only the landmark 2022 sale of Paul G. Allen’s holdings, which achieved $1.5 billion on its opening night, has generated a higher total at auction. Unlike that historic one-time dispersal, works from the Newhouse collection have appeared selectively over time, each release carrying its own sense of rarity and anticipation. Notably, Christie’s 2019 sale of Jeff Koons’s Rabbit from the collection achieved $91 million, briefly establishing the artist as the most expensive living artist ever sold at public auction.

“Tonight reinforced everything we believe about the enduring power of iconic, museum-quality works at the top of the market,” said Philip Hoffman, CEO of the Fine Art Group. “When the right work comes to auction with the right conditions, the depth of demand is extraordinary and it was!”