Jeff Koons Turns Consignor as Nine Works from His Own Walls Head to Christie's

The artist whose balloon animals set records at the rostrum is now sending pictures the other way. Christie's has added nine pieces owned personally by Jeff Koons to an upcoming sale, offering a rare look at what one of the most collected living artists chose to live with himself. Among the group is a Picasso with a public track record: it last changed hands at Sotheby's in 2008, when it brought $17.4 million. That figure is a matter of record, and it is the only number anyone can honestly attach to the picture until the hammer falls again. For collectors who follow the salerooms, the interest here is less the estimate than the provenance, since a work that hung in Koons's own collection carries his eye along with it.

With reporting from Galerie.