Beyond the Oscars: late actor Gene Hackman's personal art collection to be sold at auction

Record ID: 2272865

  • Title: Beyond the Oscars: late actor Gene Hackman's personal art collection to be sold at auction
  • Date: 13th November 2025
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 13, 2025) (REUTERS)  VARIOUS OF MALE PORTRAITS, PROBABLY SELF-PORTRAITS, PAINTED BY GENE HACKMAN ON DISPLAY AT BONHAMS AUCTION HOUSE AS PART OF "THE GENE HACKMAN COLLECTION: A LIFE IN ART” AUCTION WIDE OF HACKMAN’S ARTWORK AND MEMORABILIA PAINTINGS BY HACKMAN VARIOUS OF SCULPTURE HACKMAN MADE OF HIS WIFE BETSY ARAKAWA, MADE BY HA
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  • Keywords: Auguste Rodin Bonhams Gene Hackman Golden Globes Milton Avery Oscar winner Richard Diebenkorn actor art collection auction collectibles modern art
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA001149512112025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:People remember the late Gene Hackman as a legendary, two‑time Oscar‑winning actor. But the screen legend was also an illustrator, painter, and collector of art. He sculpted too, including a tender likeness of his wife, Betsy Arakawa.
    As of Thursday (November 13), the actor's private art world is now on public view in New York City, where Bonhams auction house is presenting "The Gene Hackman Collection: A Life in Art."
    “Gene Hackman the collector is a very diverse group of artworks, much like his career, ranging from happy roles to sad roles to adventure roles," Anna Hicks, Head of Private Art & Collectibles at Bonhams, told Reuters on Thursday.
    Hackman’s sketchbooks, brushes, and even his painting glasses are on display alongside self-portraits and film memorabilia.
    “I think the most exciting to a lot of collectors will be the Golden Globes. We have the one from Unforgiven, from The Royal Tenenbaums and also the Cecil B DeMille Award,” Hicks said.
    In addition to Hackman’s own pieces, the auction house is selling the actor’s personal collection of 13 works. 
    Hackman, who lived from 1930 to 2025, assembled a collection that spans Post‑War and Contemporary art, Western and Native American art, photography, and prints.
    Leading the fine arts offering is Milton Avery's Figure on the Jetty, estimated at $500,000 to $700,000. The painting, likely inspired by the artist's late‑1950s summers in Provincetown, entered Hackman's collection in 1997.
    Another highlight is Richard Diebenkorn's Green (1986), a large color etching from his Ocean Park series, estimated at $300,000 to $500,000.
    “It is one of the most complicated prints that he ever made. It is multiple different layers laid down, and then the colors were really, really hard to achieve,” Hicks said.
    The live fine arts auction will take place on November 19. In parallel, Bonhams will present two online auctions featuring Hackman’s cinematic memorabilia and personal artworks.
    “I think his art collection really shows the study of people and the study of color. And like a lot of concentration. And I think that in his acting, those are roles that he really embraced," Hicks said.
    (Production: Andrew Hofstetter, Christine Kiernan) 
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