NEW YORK, NY.- In April and May 2026, Sotheby’s will present a landmark selection from the Collection of Jean C Terry de Gunzburg, an offering of approximately 135 works with a combined estimate of $67–99 million, led by Collection of Jean & Terry de Gunzburg – Design Masters, a dedicated single-owner auction on 22 April 2026 estimated in the region of $30–44 million. Comprising 123 works that together embody a truly once-in-a generation moment for the design market, the sale represents the most valuable single- owner design sale in Sotheby’s history, and the first standalone single-owner design sale to be staged at Sotheby’s new home at the historic Breuer building.

For more than four decades, Jean and Terry de Gunzburg have assembled one of the most seminal and dynamic private collections of 20th century art and design, the result of a shared endeavor guided by instinct, curiosity, and a profound sensitivity to form. Shaped largely within their New York home—which they describe as “New York on the outside, Paris on the inside”—the collection reflects a way of living in which objects were not merely acquired, but discovered: a dynamic mix of artists and designers whose works introduced new visual languages of line, color, texture and ornament, arranged by their friend, the renowned decorator Jacques Grange.

This collection reflects the vision of two titans of their respective fields. Terry de Gunzburg is widely regarded as one of the most influential creative figures in modern beauty, having spent fifteen years at Yves Saint Laurent Beauté, including a number of years as Creative Director, where she translated the couturier's artistic vision into groundbreaking cosmetics and created the iconic Touche Éclat concealer—one of the most enduring innovations in the industry. After working in close collaboration with leading photographers including Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin, shaping the visual language of fashion imagery, she went on to found her own brand, By Terry, in 1998. Her sensitivity to color, refined through decades of creative work, became one of the defining instincts guiding the couple’s collecting.

Jean de Gunzburg, a molecular and cell biologist of international distinction, pursued a career at the forefront of scientific research, trained at the Pasteur and Whitehead Institutes, then holding a senior role at INSERM and the Institut Curie, where his work advanced understanding in molecular biology and oncology, before applying his expertise to the biotechnology sector. Together, Jean and Terry approached collecting with the same intellectual curiosity and instinct for discovery that defined their professional lives, assembling a dynamic and deeply personal collection distinguished by seminal artists and designers whose importance they often recognized well before the broader market.

At the heart of Collection of Jean & Terry de Gunzburg – Design Masters lies an extraordinary concentration of works by the critical figures who defined the most avant-garde movements in 20th century design. The collection traces a lineage of radical creativity, from the refinement of Art Deco to the expressive freedom of postwar organic modernism, showcasing the artists and designers who reshaped the language of form in their respective eras.

The collection displays a strong concentration of works by French artists and designers, reflecting Jean and Terry’s enduring affinity for Parisian modernity and the intellectual rigor of French decorative arts. The collection brings together iconic works by Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, Jean Royère, Alberto Giacometti, Jean-Michel Frank, Alexandre Noll, André Groult, Eugène Printz, Paul Dupré-Lafon, Pierre Chareau, Marc du Plantier, Jean Dunand, Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, and Armand-Albert Rateau, among others. Together, these masters chart the evolution of modern design as both sculpture and environment. Each work was selected not in isolation, but as part of a larger dialogue that unfolds throughout the de Gunzburg’s homes and their collection.

While design forms the aesthetic foundation of the de Gunzburg Collection, it exists in profound dialogue with masterworks of contemporary and modern art that share the same essential concerns with form, structure, and spatial presence. Artworks by Mark Rothko, Robert Ryman, Agnes Martin, Alexander Calder, Pablo Picasso, and Paul Klee introduce parallel investigations into abstraction and the expressive potential of line and color. Whether through Rothko’s immersive fields of luminosity, Martin’s disciplined geometries, Ryman’s subtle material investigations, or the pictorial innovations of Picasso and Klee, these works extend the collection’s central exploration of how visual language can shape emotional and physical space. Within Jean and Terry’s home, art and design were experienced as part of a unified environment, each deepening the presence of the other and reinforcing their shared belief that living with such works reveals their meaning over time.

A Defining Moment for the Design Market

The presentation of Collection of Jean & Terry de Gunzburg – Design Masters arrives at a defining moment for the global design market, following Sotheby’s historic Design Week in December 2025, which achieved nearly $60 million in total sales at the Breuer Building and set a new benchmark for the field. The week was led by François Xavier Lalanne’s Hippopotame Bar, pièce unique, which realized $31.4 million after an extended bidding battle among international collectors, establishing a new world auction record for the artist and the most valuable design object ever sold at auction. This result, alongside numerous artist records and exceptional sell-through rates, reflects two critical forces shaping the market today: an accelerating demand for masterpiece-level works of the highest quality and rarity, and a growing recognition of seminal 20th century designers as creators of cultural icons whose importance rivals that of their fine art contemporaries. Against this backdrop, the de Gunzburg Collection represents the next chapter in this momentum, bringing to market one of the most important and valuable single-owner design collections ever assembled, and reaffirming Sotheby’s leadership in presenting masterpieces that define the canon of modern design.

Highlights from Collection of Jean G Terry de Gunzburg – Design Masters New York, April 22, 2026

Claude Lalanne, An Important Ensemble of Fifteen Mirrors, from the Salon de Musique of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé’s Apartment, Paris, 1974-1985. Gilt bronze, galvanized copper, mirrored glass Estimate: $10 – 15 million

At the center of the de Gunzburg collection is an extraordinary ensemble of fifteen mirrors by Claude Lalanne, commissioned for the Salon de Musique of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé’s Paris residence—one of the most iconic interiors of the 20th century. This landmark commission stands as a masterwork within Claude Lalanne’s oeuvre and a defining achievement in the history of design. For Terry de Gunzburg, who first encountered the mirrors while working alongside Saint Laurent, the ensemble held deep personal resonance, embodying both her and Jean’s instinct for recognizing seminal works that transcend function to become fully realized environments.

Executed entirely by hand over the course of a decade, the mirrors represent Lalanne’s earliest and most ambitious exploration of the mirror as a sculptural form. Claude Lalanne began by designing two mirrors for Saint Laurent—the first she ever created—establishing a motif that she would revisit throughout the rest of her career. Over the next decade, the commission expanded to thirteen additional mirrors, culminating in a fully realized environmental installation. Today, Claude Lalanne’s mirrors are among the forms most closely associated with her practice; this ensemble stands as their origin and most complete expression.

In addition to the mirrors’ storied provenance, the two original mirrors were included in an early museum presentation devoted to Les Lalanne at the Centre National d'Art Contemporain in 1975, before traveling to the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. After their acquisition by the de Gunzburgs, the ensemble was included in the landmark 2010 retrospective of Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne’s work at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

André Groult Cabinet Circa 1926. Shagreen, amazonite, ebony, bronze Estimate: $600,000 – 800,000

In the entryway of the de Gunzburg’s New York apartment stands a beautifully proportioned and exquisitely made cabinet by leading Art Deco designer André Groult. Sheathed in luminous green shagreen, the cabinet marries sumptuous materials with architectural restraint. It perfectly exemplifies why Groult was celebrated during his lifetime and is now considered a 20th century design master. The cabinet’s tactile surface reflects a distinctly French commitment to craftsmanship and innovation values closely aligned with Jean and Terry de Gunzburg’s collecting sensibility. Pablo Picasso’s Footballeur is set within the recessed central compartment, and a pair of wall sconces by Armand-Albert Rateau flank the cabinet. Together, the works demonstrate the couple’s instinct for layered interiors in which texture, ornament, and light exist in harmonious balance.

Alexandre Noll Pair of Cabinets Circa 1946 Mahogany. Estimate: $700,000 – 1 million

This pair of monumental cabinets by Alexandre Noll distills the essence of the artist’s practice: a mastery of line, proportion, and material transformed into sculpture. Constructed circa 1946 from rich mahogany, the pair of cabinets rank among his most commanding works, occupying a space between cabinetry and sculpture. Rising over six and a half feet tall (nearly two meters), the cabinets illustrate Noll’s ability to merge craftsmanship and abstraction, creating forms that are at once architectural and deeply tactile.

Positioned in dialogue with masterworks of twentieth-century painting within the home, the cabinets transcend utility, asserting themselves as sculptural counterparts to works by Francis Bacon and Mark Rothko—an extraordinary demonstration of the collection’s cross-disciplinary coherence.

Jean Dunand, Pair of Armchairs (detail), Circa 1927. Lacquered wood, leather upholstery Estimate: $150,000 – 200,000

Jean Dunand Selection of Vases Circa 1925 Lacquered metal. Estimate: estimates range from $10,000 to 70,000

The examples of Jean Dunand’s work in the de Gunzburg collection underscore the breadth of his achievement across furniture and objects, bringing together a rare pair of red lacquer armchairs—models first presented at the 1927 Salon des Artistes Décorateurs—and eight exceptional vases. Together, they demonstrate Dunand’s ability to translate the discipline of traditional lacquer techniques into a distinctly modern decorative language.

The armchairs exemplify the depth and luminosity for which his works in lacquer are renowned, their surfaces built through meticulous layering and polishing to achieve exceptional richness. The accompanying vases extend this mastery into objects, where bold color and refined proportions unite in quintessential expressions of his modern aesthetic.

Jean-Michel Frank Pair of Armchairs Circa 1928. Patinated wrought iron, leather upholstery Estimate: $250,000 – 350,000

A pair of armchairs by Jean-Michel Frank anchors the living room of the de Gunzburg’s London residence. The chairs originally came from the celebrated San Francisco residence of Templeton Crocker, one of Frank’s most important interiors. The chair’s distinguished provenance is matched by the purity of their design. A spare wrought iron frame defines the structure with elegant restraint, while the leather seat and backrest introduce a sumptuous luxury to their design. This balance of simplicity and refinement embodies Frank’s commitment to clarity of form and use of exquisite materials. The collection features additional examples by Frank alongside masterworks by his collaborators such as Alberto Giacometti, reflecting the creative dialogue that shaped his interiors as well as the de Gunzburg’s.

Paul Dupré-Lafon Pair of Cabinets 1930s. Parchment, oak, bronze, macassar ebony Estimate: $300,000 – 500,000

Trained as an architect, Dupré-Lafon brought a rigorous sense of structure and proportion to his interiors, favoring clean lines, balanced volumes, and understated modernism – traits that are found in each of the works by the designer in the de Gunzburg Collection. This pair of cabinets dates from the 1930s, a period in the designer’s career when his aesthetic language was characterized by restraint and architectural clarity. A modern interpretation of the 18th-century seven-drawer semainier, these vertically-composed cabinets perfectly encapsulate Dupré-Lafon’s approach to design, pairing fine materials like leather, bronze, and parchment with precise, uncompromising craftsmanship.

Jean Royère, “Ours Polaire” Sofa and Pair of Armchairs, Circa 1950. Oak, mohair upholstery. Estimate (sofa): $600,000 – 800,000. Estimate (pair of armchairs): $600,000 – 800,000.

Jean Royère, Pair of Sideboards, Circa 1950. Ash, walnut, ebony. Estimate: $700,000 – 1 million

Guided by the discerning eye of Pierre Passebon, Jean and Terry de Gunzburg assembled an important group of works by Royère – a defining highlight of the collection – recognizing the designer’s radically modern approach to design during the mid-20th century. In their London residence, the “Ours Polaire” sofa and armchairs assert both comfort and sculptural authority, an embodiment of the collection’s dynamic interplay between art and living. At the same time, the pair of extraordinary sideboards demonstrates the designer’s more architectonic approach to design in which a veneered surface creates a striking and bold pattern. Together, along with the other works by Royère in the collection, the full range and mastery of the designer’s work is on display.

Highlights from Collection of Jean G Terry de Gunzburg – Marquee Evening Sales New York, May 2026

Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1969. Acrylic on paper laid down on canvas Estimate: $10-15 million

Executed in 1969, the penultimate year of the artist’s life, Untitled belongs to the final and most profound phase of Mark Rothko’s career. In these late works, Rothko achieved a heightened sense of spiritual and chromatic intensity, exploring the expressive potential of color and scale with unparalleled emotional depth.

The painting bears a particularly close affinity to Rothko’s landmark commission for the Rothko Chapel in Houston, conceived for Dominique and John de Menil, one of the artist’s most enduring and transformative achievements. Its inclusion in the Menil Collection’s 1996–97 exhibition revisiting the Chapel commission underscores its direct relationship to this pivotal moment in Rothko’s oeuvre.

For Terry de Gunzburg, the work’s chromatic presence held an additional personal resonance. The painting’s rich violet tonalities echoed a signature shade that became closely associated with her own creative work at By Terry, reflecting her lifelong sensitivity to the emotional and expressive power of color. Within the de Gunzburg home, the painting’s immersive atmosphere established a contemplative counterpoint to the sculptural forms and material richness of the surrounding design.

Agnes Martin, Untitled #C, 1977. Ink, graphite, and gesso on canvas Estimate: $3-4 million

Untitled #C belongs to an extraordinarily rare group of paintings executed by Agnes Martin in 1977, a pivotal year for the artist. Only fifteen works were created during this year, and the present example is one of just three that remain in private hands. Others reside in major institutional collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien.

Defined by its precise geometry and luminous restraint, the painting exemplifies Martin’s lifelong pursuit of harmony, balance, and transcendence through abstraction. Its quiet authority and contemplative clarity resonate deeply with the collection’s broader exploration of essential form, reinforcing the dialogue between painting and design that shapes the de Gunzburg homes.

Robert Ryman, Versions III, 1992. Oil and graphite on fiberglass panel, with waxed paper, three white nails, and four staples Overall: 71 by 63 in. (180.3 by 160 cm.). Estimate: $2.5-3.5 million

Robert Ryman’s Versions III belongs to a landmark series of sixteen works created between 1991 and 1992 that represents one of the artist’s most rigorous investigations into material, surface, and perception. Executed on fiberglass and incorporating visible fastening elements, the work reflects Ryman’s lifelong commitment to revealing the physical conditions of painting itself.

This example is one of only four large-scale works from the series, and one of just two remaining in private hands. The others reside in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Its rare scale and exceptional provenance place it among the most important works from this celebrated body of work, exemplifying Ryman’s ability to create compositions of remarkable openness, balance, and subtle visual complexity.

Pablo Picasso, Buste de femme, 1955 oil on canvas Estimate: $3–5 million

Executed in 1955, Buste de femme is a striking example of Pablo Picasso’s celebrated late portraits of seated women, a defining subject of his practice. The work dates to a moment of profound personal and artistic transition, following the artist’s relocation to Villa La Californie in Cannes, whose expansive interiors and luminous Mediterranean setting would inspire a renewed freedom of expression. This period also marked the end of Picasso’s relationship with Françoise Gilot and the beginning of his enduring partnership with Jacqueline Roque, who would become his final and most significant muse.

Rendered in a refined monochrome palette, which Picasso employed throughout his career as a means of emphasizing structure and form, Buste de femme reveals the artist’s mastery of line as a vehicle for psychological and spatial complexity. Bold contours and shifting planes of light and shadow articulate the figure with remarkable economy, demonstrating Picasso’s unparalleled ability to continuously reinvent the language of portraiture. Within the de Gunzburg Collection, the painting stands as a powerful counterpart to the radical innovations in form and abstraction embodied by the collection’s seminal design.

Paul Klee Gartenfigur, 1932 oil on burlap. Estimate: $2-3 million

Painted in 1932, Gartenfigur belongs to a pivotal moment in Paul Klee’s career, following his departure from the Bauhaus and his appointment to the faculty of the Staatliche Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. This period marked a renewed engagement with the expressive and symbolic potential of form, as Klee synthesized his Bauhaus investigations into structure and color with a more personal and poetic visual language. Articulated through rhythmic linework, the composition evokes the natural world through a refined balance of abstraction and figuration.