Beginning in November, 50 works from the collection of Richard “Dick” and Elizabeth “Betty” Hedreen will be sold at Sotheby’s auctions in New York; another round of sales will take place in February. The works selected have a combined estimated value of about $90 million. They include Roy Lichtenstein’s Reflections on “Artist and Model,” valued at $20 million to $30 million; a portrait by Georg Pencz; a work by Cecily Brown; and Titian’s Mater Dolorosa.
In 2024, Richard Hedreen announced that he would give the couple’s entire collection to Seattle University, where Betty, who died in 2022, studied. He also pledged $25 million to establish the Seattle University Art Museum. However, to turn the promise into a gift that could be realized in the near term, the family decided to sell part of the collection. According to Sotheby’s, the collection grew from more than 200 works valued at about $300 million to more than 400 pieces spanning the period from the 15th century to the present day.
After the auctions, the university is expected to receive more than 350 works selected in consultation with the school to preserve the collection’s artistic, geographic and historical diversity. They will include works by Agnolo Bronzino, Jacopo Pontormo, Willem de Kooning, Rashid Johnson and Amy Sherald. The Hedreens began collecting art after Richard founded the real estate development company R.C. Hedreen Co.; the couple also supported university projects and museum initiatives. Construction of the new museum, estimated to cost about $60 million and scheduled to begin in August, has not yet started; the university said it would announce further plans later.
Based on: Art worth $90M, part of gift pledged to Seattle U, going up for auction