Real Estate Titan Robert Olnick's Huge Art Collection Goes to Auction

Robert S. Olnick created a real estate empire that stretched across New York City, Westchester, and New Jersey, comprising dozens of buildings that spanned millions of square feet. Simultaneously, he and his wife Sylvia began to develop a robust collection of modern art, filling their New York and Palm beach homes with works by such 20th century masters as Alexander Calder, Willem De Kooning, and Cy Twombly. Robert died in 1986 at the age of 74, and for the next 30 years Sylvia continued to collect, gravitating increasingly to contemporary artists, including Barbara Kruger, Cindy Sherman, and Vik Muniz.

Sylvia died earlier this year, and now her two daughters have placed the bulk of their parents' collection up for auction, where most of it will go on sale this November at Christie’s in New York.