Leonardo DiCaprio And His Wide art collection

Leonardo DiCaprio is well known as an art collector. In May 2013, he bagged the Takashi Murakami painting during the Christie’s sale which he organized. He is also the proud owner of a work by Frank Stella. He is nostalgic about Robert Williams and Robert Crumb. On January, 2017 he bought the Ed Ruscha Painting for $37 million at a charity auction.

But that is not all! Leo has a wide collection of art which he has carefully selected over the years. It is interesting to note that the Inception actor bought the Nachlass painting by Jean-Pierre Roy at the PULSE Art Fair held in New York. He also bought the Double Gray Scramble (1973) which speaks volumes about his preference in art.

Jean-Pierre’s art was bought after Leo caught a picture of his work on his Instagram account. Apparently, the artist had put out a post of his exhibition held at Copenhagen and Leo somehow managed to get a glimpse of it. He liked it so much that he decided to purchase it.

It is interesting to note that the artist himself associates his work with “science fiction and post-apocalyptic world”. In fact, his work often focused on “sublime optical phenomenon” which has “massive cataclysmic events” taking place at the moment. It shows DiCaprio’s wide interest in art. He has also orchestrated innumerable art related fundraisers in the past where billionaires have bought several pieces like the Picasso Sketch for $1 million.

Nachlass (2015)

Leo also exhibits some environment-friendly characteristics. He organized a sale for his environmental foundation during which he also bagged himself the Takashi Murakami, Mononoke art piece. He also got himself the “Untitled” which is Mark Grotjahn’s famous from 2012. It is a vibrant art showing the elephant, lio0n and tiger – “Standard Lotus No. 11, Bird of Paradise, Tiger Mouth Face 44.01) in 2012.

He spent a whopping $735,000 on the Mononoke of 2013. At the Miami Beach in December, an Art Basel was organized, during which, DiCaprio was eager to purchase the Picasso drawing on view. He consulted with his dealer friend David Nahmad, whose gallery was a celeb-magnet at the Galerie Gmurzynska in Zurich. The Fillette (1939) was the epitome of the drawing from Picasso.

Standard Lotus No. 11, Bird of Paradise, Tiger Mouth Face 44.01

The same Picasso drawing featured at the charity gala in Saint-Tropez which the billionaire bought for $1 million. DiCaprio is also seen at various art functions gazing endlessly at the modern art. Recently he was spotted at the Sotheby’s sale (again a Picasso rich exhibit), where he was looking over the glass sky-box.

Undoubtedly, he has expressed his love for Spanish art more than once. He was also seen at the Philips auction sale (“Under the Influence”). At this event, Oscar Murillo set a personal record by buying the “Untitled (Drawings off the wall)” (2011) for $401,000. But Vanity Fair suggested that this might have actually been a hat-bearing sale for DiCaprio itself.

At the Berlin Exhibition, DiCaprio came across “Watercolors” by Walton Ford. This painting hit home because it was based on a cause the actor deeply believed in – about endangered species like the Tasmanian tigers and elephant birds. This matched his concern and Ford’s next collection featured at DiCaprio’s Christie’s sale. The Paul Kasmin gallery in New York represents Ford.

Untitled (Drawings off the wall)

DiCaprio was introduced to the world of art by his father. In 2013, he said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, that his father introduced him to illustrative artists like Robert Crumb and Robert Williams in the 1980s and 1970s. These people are known to have created some fun cartoons. We wouldn’t be surprised if those are some of the first art forms that he has in his collection.

“In New York, Andy Warhol, Basquiat, Francesco Clemente and Julian Schnabel were the guys who were big in the 1980’s when I began to understand art better. They were my heroes, and I’ve continued to be a huge admirer of Basquiat,” he told the Wall Street Journal.

Apart from this, he has also admitted that he collects vintage movie posters from the Golden era of Hollywood. Those were rare, lithographic prints which were used as wall advertisements in those times and they can fetch up to $700,000 in this time. Although there is no evidence of this, but DiCaprio is believed to be the one who purchased the Metropolis poster in 2005 for $690,000.

Through Robert Williams, DiCaprio was introduced to famous LA artists like Ed Ruscha, Mark Ryden, and Todd Schorr. We wouldn’t be surprised if he has stored some of their works in his private collection as well. These artists were also featured at the Christie’s sale.

At the famous “11th Hour” auction we also saw the work of the sculptor Urs Fischer. His “Good Problem” (2013) drew a lot of attention. Meanwhile, Leo posed for Elizabeth Peyton a few years ago. This portrait was sold for $1 million at the 11th Hour Sale which took place in 2013. It is likely that DiCaprio has a few of her collections in his stock.

As a child, Leo was fascinated with natural-history museum and he, therefore, has many important fossils artwork collection at his bay. This consists mainly of predatory dinosaurs. But that is not all – one of the most important items he is fascinated with is by his own namesake – Leonardo da Vinci, “The Annunciation” (1475). It is said that his parents stood in front of this artwork in Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy, and decided that they are going to name him Leonardo.

The Annunciation

DiCaprio has thus returned to the gallery himself and examined the works of the master very closely. Some of the works that the gallery has of him include the “Adoration of the Magi” (1452) and the “Annunciation” (1459).

There was also another incident where the government said that the Picasso art titled “Nature morte au crane de taureau” was gifted to DiCaprio along with a handwritten note which seems to be of his friend Jho Low.

Nature morte au crane de taureau