Christie’s Plans for Sale of Sydell Miller’s Collection

THE DREAMER: While some might know Sydell Miller as an entrepreneur, the word “collector” would also apply. And Christie’s is about to showcase some of the fine art, decorative art and furniture from her Palm Beach home La Reverie.

Miller and her late husband Arnold started Matrix Essentials Inc., a manufacturer of professional hair care and beauty products. Their philanthropy efforts have included supporting the Cleveland Clinic, where there is the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Pavilion houses.

There will be 20 works of art up for auction, including paintings by Joan Miró, Jean Dubuffet and Joan Mitchell that will be sold during Christie’s New York’s 20th Century and 21st Century Week, which will run from May 11 to 14. There will also be a dedicated auction on June 10 titled  “La Reverie: The Collection of Sydell Miller” that will feature masterworks of 18th-century French furniture and design.

Dubuffet’s “Baigneuses” from 1950 has an estimate of $4 million to $6 million. Mitchell’s “Rain” from 1989 is expected to fetch between $5 million and $7 million. In terms of other items from the Peter Marino-designed manse, there is François-Xavier Lalanne’s rare “elephant” center table that is expected to ring up between $1 million and $1.5 million. The piece has seven freestanding elephant sculptures.

In total, the collection is estimated to generate $30 million in sales.

Following the reported $105 million sale of her Palm Beach estate in 2019, the beauty executives sold a vacant lakefront lot that previously was part of that property for $42 million last month.

Material for the upcoming sales referenced how every room of La Reverie told a story with the artwork “representing a museum-quality assemblage of works by the greatest names in Impressionist, Modern, Post-War and Contemporary art.” Jonathan Rendell, Christie’s deputy chairman and head of sale curation, said there was “a sumptuous quality to the installation of La Reverie” with the harmony of the interiors being a “tribute to the eye of the collector.”

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