Single-owner collections have a way of igniting interest in the auction room, particularly when they’re associated with the rich and famous. Buyers will pay a premium for that kind of connection. The collection currently on everyone’s lips is that of divorcing American couple Harry and Linda Macklowe whose $US600 million ($826 million) store of art will be auctioned in two parts by Sotheby’s. The collection features the biggest post-war names: Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol, Alberto Giacometti, Gerhard Richter and Cy Twombly among them.

Octogenarian Harry Macklowe made his billions in real estate, and money was no object when it came to art. The feuding couple’s collection is worth more than eight times the total turnover of art at auction in Australia last year.