Selling Off $90 Million in Art? It's All for a Good Cause.

When a real estate developer decides to offload 50 artworks for a cool $90 million, you might assume they’re tightening the purse strings. But for Seattle’s Richard "Dick" Hedreen and his family, this fall and winter art sale is actually the opposite of a retreat.

Turns out, it’s all part of a grand plan to fund a new art museum at Seattle University — a place the Hedreens previously pledged their entire art collection to, along with a $25 million cash injection. Because apparently, the best way to build a museum is to sell off a few Picassos-adjacent pieces.

The Art of the Deal (Literally)

The Hedreen collection is no small potatoes. We’re talking about 350 artworks destined for the university, spanning from modern masters like Willem de Kooning and Amy Sherald to Old Masters by the likes of Bronzino. The family’s collecting philosophy has always been wonderfully eclectic, often hanging centuries-apart pieces side-by-side. Imagine a 15th-century portrait staring down a contemporary abstract — that’s the vibe.

So, how do you decide which 50 pieces to sell when you’re building a museum? Very carefully, it seems. The Hedreens worked hand-in-glove with a Seattle University art historian, reviewing each artwork like it was a contestant on a reality show. The goal: keep the essentials for the university, and send the rest to auction.

Among the headliners hitting the block at Sotheby’s is Roy Lichtenstein’s Reflections on “Painter and Model” (1990), a piece the Hedreens have owned for over three decades. It’s expected to fetch a tidy $20 million to $30 million. Not bad for a painting that gives a knowing nod to Picasso.

Then there’s Cecily Brown’s sprawling, 12-foot-wide Untitled (Shipwreck) (2017), estimated at $7 million to $10 million. It’s part of a series where Brown took on 19th-century Romantic paintings, presumably with a healthy dose of modern angst.

For the Old Masters enthusiasts, February brings Georg Pencz’s 16th-century Portrait of Sigismund Baldinger, which carries an $8 million to $12 million estimate. This painting has a backstory worthy of a Netflix documentary: it stayed with the Baldinger family for over 370 years, was looted during WWII, returned to its rightful heirs in 2010, and then promptly set a record for Pencz at auction.

Also on offer: Bartolomeo Cavarozzi’s The Sacrifice of Isaac (around 1617), once mistakenly attributed to Caravaggio himself. It’s estimated at $7 million to $10 million, proving that even a case of mistaken identity can still command a hefty price.

This sale represents only a fraction of the Hedreens’ original pledge. When the gift was announced, the entire collection was valued at about $300 million. The 50 works being sold are just one-eighth of the total, leaving a robust 350 pieces to form the core of the university’s new museum.

“Our commitment to [Seattle University] remains as strong as ever,” the family says, emphasizing that the sold works were chosen with the university’s blessing. So, while some masterpieces are changing hands, it’s all in service of a bigger, art-filled future. Which, if you think about it, is a pretty classy way to raise some cash.