The Cleveland Clinic is selling art to benefit hearts. WKSU’s Phil de Oliveira reports next month’s auction at Christie’s in New York will include items from the Clinic’s collection.
The eight works for sale include sculptures and paintings by Roy Lichtenstein, Marc Chagall, and Pablo Picasso.
The artworks were donated to the Cleveland Clinic by philanthropist and entrepreneur Sydell Miller, whose collection spans impressionist and modern art.
None of the pieces up for auction have ever been on display at the Clinic. Cleveland Clinic Art Curator Joanne Cohen says that’s partly because the clinic would rather display work by living artists.
“These works are really very delicate and fragile, and much more valuable than the artworks that are in our collection. So these were given with the express intent of selling them to help further more heart and vascular care at the clinic," Cohen says.
The most expensive item for sale is Picasso’s “Woman sitting in an armchair,” with an estimated value of $20 million to $30 million.
