One of their first assignments was to transform a floor of Saks Fifth Avenue’s flagship location, where Bill Blass, Pierre Cardin and other contemporary designers showcased their wares. Glamorous houses for the social circle – both in the city and beyond – followed. After Rayner’s death in 1998, Ertegun continued with solo design projects, including Walmart heiress Alice Walton’s Park Avenue duplex apartment.
Like Ertegun’s extensive oeuvre, Christie’s collection is “vast in scope,” as Carter puts it, encompassing the De Stijl, Surrealism, and Color-Field movements. For example, vibrant paintings by David Hockney, Joan Miró and Ed Rauscha mingle with an industrial sculpture by David Smith and a glamorous photo by Andy Warhol of Ertegun. There is also a 19th century German mahogany secretary and a few light-hearted examples from the mid-20th century bronze palm trees attributed to Maison Jansen that once graced Ertegun’s living room in New York, as well as to a chaise longue by Ingrid Donat that held court in the guest room.
The most coveted item is undoubtedly from René Magritte The realm of lights nocturnal landscape paintings, estimated at over $95 million. “It is the largest, the most beautifully painted and the most beautifully preserved” in Magritte’s series, says Carter. “It exhausts superlatives. But every object in the collection is just like that and has its own special story,” such as the Henry Moore sculpture, which Moore specially selected for the International Surrealist Exhibition held in London in 1936.
Since her husband was a music mogul who launched the careers of talents like Aretha Franklin and Led Zeppelin, Ertegun often designed homes for musicians including Carly Simon and Keith Richards. This beautiful atmosphere also permeated the Erteguns’ personal lives. They were dinner party decor pieces, which they loved with light fixtures Oscar de la Renta and Henry Kissinger. But beyond the glitter, they were also philanthropists, and after Ahmet’s death in 2006, his wife continued with a jazz atrium at Lincoln Center, restoration efforts at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, and $41 million in humanities grants to the University of Jerusalem. Oxford. It is therefore appropriate that a significant portion of the proceeds from sales go to charitable initiatives.
The ADVERTISEMENT archive offers a glimpse into Ertegun’s multifaceted personality through her stunning yet no-nonsense spaces, which she guided with an uncompromising design philosophy. Looking for inspiration for your auction hunt? Dive into these six timeless stories from our past editions.
The design legacy of Mica Ertegun
