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# Nicole Kidman's Billion-Dollar Breakfast at Christie's
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/nicole-kidmans-billion-dollar-breakfast-at-christies/
- Published: 2026-05-19T22:18:27.000Z
- Updated: 2026-05-19T22:20:29.000Z
- Description: The Hollywood star helped promote an evening sale that set new auction records for Pollock and Brancusi works.
- Author: Isa Farfan
- Tags: News, Christie's, Jackson Pollock, Constantin Brancusi, New York

In a rather peculiar [blunt rotation](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dream-blunt-rotation-nightmare-blunt-rotation?ref=hyperallergic.com), Jackson Pollock, Constantin Brancusi, and Hollywood star Nicole Kidman were all part of a record-setting $1 billion evening sale at Christie's on Monday, May 18\. 

Pollock’s 10-foot-long drip painting “Number 7A, 1948,” shattered records for work by the late artist, selling for $181.2 million. The superlative sale nearly tripled the artist's previous auction record of [$61.2 million for the sale ](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crkp777llgko?ref=hyperallergic.com)of "Number 17, 1951" in 2021\. 

In the same sale,Brancusi's cast-bronze bust “Danaïde” (c. 1913) went for $107.6 million, becoming the second most expensive sculpture ever sold after Alberto Giacometti's “L'Homme au Doigt” (1947) fetched $141.2 million in 2015.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/05/LOT-4A_CONSTANTIN-BRANCUSI--Danai--de.jpg)

Constantin Brancusi's "Danaïde" (c. 1913) sold for $107.6 million.

In the weeks before the sale, Christie's hyped up the collection in a [promotional video](https://www.christies.com/en/stories/nicole-kidman-constantin-brancusi-danaide-1cd4050788274d24b590e279a4078109?ref=hyperallergic.com) featuring an entranced Kidman dancing around theBrancusi— a gold-leafed bust inspired by a young art studentthe Romanian sculptor had met in Paris — to the tune of David Bowie’s “Golden Years.” 

Both pieces belonged to magazine magnate S.I. Newhouse, who died at age 89 in 2017\. They anchored a selection of [16 masterpieces](https://www.christies.com/en/auction/masterpieces-the-private-collection-of-s-i-newhouse-31380/?ref=hyperallergic.com) from the billionaire's collection featuring artists such as Joan Miró, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, and Jasper Johns.

During a subsequent [Monday evening ](https://www.christies.com/en/auction/20th-century-evening-sale-31034/?ref=hyperallergic.com)auction of 20th-century works at Christie's, Mark Rothko's “No. 15 (Two Greens and Red Stripe)” (1964), from the late philanthropist Agnes Gund’s personal collection, came under the hammer at $98.4 million with fees, surpassing the artist’s previous [sale](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-18001432?ref=hyperallergic.com) record of $86.9 million in 2012.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/2026/05/Auctioneer-Adrien-Meyer-sells-Jackson-Pollock---s-Number-7A--1948-the-top-lot-of-Masterpieces-The-Private-Collection-of-S.I.-Newhouse--for--181.2-million-2.JPG)

Jackson Pollock’s "Number 7A, 1948" fetched $181.2 million 

Christie’s did not name the collectors who purchased the Pollock and Brancusi.

Factoring in prior auctions from 2018 through 2023, Newhouse's overall collection surpassed $1.05 billion in sales this week, becoming the second most valuable private collection after that of the late Microsoft co-founder [Paul Allen](https://www.christies.com/en/events/visionary-the-paul-g-allen-collection/overview?ref=hyperallergic.com), according to Christie’s.