David Bowie art collection to be displayed and auctioned

David Bowie, 2010 (Image credit: Getty)

David Bowie’s art collection will go on show in an exhibition at Sotheby’s in London this November.

The collection of 400 works titled Bowie/Collector, will be on display for 10 days before being auctioned.

It includes 100 pieces of furniture, Damien Hirst paintings, and other works by Frank Auerbach, Stanley Spencer, Patrick Caulfield, Peter Lanyon, Graham Sutherland and more. It’s collectively expected to raise more than £10 million.

Sotheby’s Europe chairman Oliver Barker says: “David Bowie’s collection offers a unique insight into the personal world of one of the 20th Century’s greatest creative spirits.”

Bowie studied art and design at technical college and admitted to “obsessively and addictively” buying art.

With the help of his novelist friend William Boyd, Bowie founded his art book publishing company 21 in the mid-90s. In 1998, they held a party at Jeff Koons’ studio in Manhattan to launch a book paying tribute to the life and work of an imaginary artist called Nat Tate. It has been described as one of the greatest art hoaxes in history.

Boyd tells the BBC: “Without his participation it would never have been as big a hoax as it turned out to be. Everybody loves a hoax and I think to fool a bunch of self-important intellectuals is no bad thing from time to time.”

Proceeds from the sale will go to Bowie’s family.

Bowie’s longtime producer Tony Visconti, Michael Stipe, The Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne and Jane’s Addiction singer Perry Farrell feature in the short film, David Bowie Was The Gateway Drug For Your Favorite Rockstar.

Damien Hirst, Beautiful, shattering, slashing, violent, pinky, hacking, sphincter painting, 1995

Pier Giacomo and Achille Castiglioni, Brionvega Radiophonograph, model no. RR 126, 1965

David Bowie: A Newspaper History 1947-2016

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.