S.I. Newhouse's Art Collection Fetches Record $178 Million at Auction.

The auction of 16 paintings from the collection of the late magazine publisher S.I. Newhouse Jr. at Christie's was muted, with most of the lots going for solid if predictable prices at, or just above, their estimates, for a total of $177.8 million. Every item had been guaranteed, essentially presold to buyers who had promised to pay undisclosed minimum prices. The highest price of the evening was $34.6 million with fees, for a 1969 self-portrait by Francis Bacon. The highest estimate in the Christie’s sale was about $25 million for Willem de Kooning’s 1947 black-and-white “Orestes,” which sold for $30.9 million with fees.