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This highly anticipated auction at Christie’s this November and December 2024 celebrates the life of a woman who personified style and nurtured spaces that mixed art, design, and culture. This collection encompasses everything from iconic fine art to decorative pieces and presents an unrivaled look into the aesthetic philosophy that defined Ertegun’s career spanning over six decades. Along with her late husband, Ahmet Ertegun-cofounder of Atlantic Records-Mica was the backbone of New York high society, mixing her gift for design with an eye toward refined yet accessible beauty.
What is remarkable about the Ertegun collection is that it contains not only rare masterpieces but pieces of décor that inspire universally. Among the expected highlights are René Magritte’s surrealist work “L’empire des lumières,” believed to break all sales records, and works of other artists including David Hockney and Patrick Henry Bruce. These go alongside refined furniture, Asian antiques, and more accessibly-priced items that reflect Ertegun’s philosophy of elegance sans excess. The late decorator was known to marry modern pieces with classic antiques, and one of her biggest thrones to self-imposed rule was the use of “negative space”-making sure each piece had room to breathe and reverberate in its environment. It’s a feeling that prevails across all her homes-from Manhattan to Paris to Bodrum-as she beautifully married local artistry with the tenets of minimalism.
An consummate tastemaker, Mica’s design influence stretched far beyond her own homes: Her New York-based firm, MAC II-which she founded in 1967 with Chessy Rayner-counted among its clients Bill Blass, Keith Richards, and other luminaries in the worlds of music, fashion, and business. Her work was always understated, yet it was thoroughly luxurious, a reflection of her vision for beauty that is timeless-a legacy that has made her designs at once long-lasting and influential in the worlds of interior design and high society.
Aside from that, another enormous part of Mica’s life was her philanthropy; the proceeds from the auction were to go to educational and cultural causes that she supported, including humanities scholarships at Oxford and art preservation projects. According to Marc Porter, chairman of Christie’s Americas, her collection is vivified by pieces both rare and livable that afford an intimate window into her curated vision of “the dreamiest versions of human dwelling.”.
The string of auctions, starting on November 19, 2024, in New York to conclude on December 13 in Paris, gives way to the sale of a piece of her remarkable legacy to those in awe of her elegance combined with simplicity-to showcase her unique approach to the integration of fine art into living spaces.
