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Where a Christie's Auctioneer Looks for Collectibles in New York

Photo credit: Dimitrios Kambouris - Getty Images
Photo credit: Dimitrios Kambouris - Getty Images

From Town & Country

As a 16-year veteran of Christie's, Adrien Meyer has orchestrated a fair share of mega art deals. There was Giocometti's Diego en chemise écossaise which sold for $32 million in 2013, Manet's Le Printemps which went to the Getty Museum for $65 million, and the $46 million sale of Max Beckmann's Bird's Hell in 2017. While he was co-chairman of the Impressionist and Modern department, he was one of the masterminds behind the David and Peggy Rockefeller auction that brought in a near-record $833 million. Recently named chairman of global private sales, Meyer is also the reason why crazy rich Asians can now bid on Impressionist works in Hong Kong (he orchestrated the first Impressionist auction there). In between advising the superrich on who to hang on their walls, he tells T&C's Connoisseur column about the products, designs, and places he loves, trusts, and can't live without.


What do you collect…

A melting pot! Tribal art, works on paper, Japanese contemporary art, 19th century naturalism, 18th century French furniture...


What’s the holy grail in art…

Picasso is a genius like no other and his greatest breakthrough is probably “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon."

Photo credit: STAN HONDA
Photo credit: STAN HONDA

One thing you don’t have but really really want…

Hair.


Favorite store in your city…

The Neue Galerie gift shop in New York.


What’s your drink and who makes the best iteration of it…

Irish coffee. Made by my “Irish” Godfather.


Things you never travel without…

Running shoes.


A “vice” you can’t kick…

My carbon footprint, and it is something that I am always working towards reducing.


Best trip ever…

My first trip to India.

Photo credit: John Harper
Photo credit: John Harper

Favorite hotel in the world…

Masseria Cimino, Puglia

Photo credit: Masseria Cimino
Photo credit: Masseria Cimino

You’re happiest when…

I close a private sale at Christie’s, for the thrill of the click created between a buyer and a seller.


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