May 3, 2026

A Bridgewater Collector’s Legacy Goes to Auction this May

By Troy McMullen

After decades of success on Wall Street, Robert Mnuchin turned his sights to the art world, first as a voracious collector of postwar and contemporary works, then as a dealer who used his trading-floor savvy to orchestrate some of the industry’s biggest transactions. By the time of his death last year at age 92, the longtime Bridgewater resident was one of New York’s foremost gallerists, with a formidable private collection to match.

“The reason to buy art is because you love it, you love it, you love it,” he famously told The New York Times in 2013.

Sotheby’s is now offering a selection of works from Mnuchin’s collection at a May auction estimated to fetch $130 million. Pieces by Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, and Jeff Koons are all part of the public sale.

Mnuchin and his wife, Adriana, spent decades expanding their collection and were a visible presence in the Litchfield County community. They acquired the Mayflower Inn in Washington in 1990 and renovated it into a luxury resort before selling it in 2007.

Some of the auctioned works hung in the couple’s Bridgewater estate while others were on view at their Manhattan gallery. “They spoke of collecting as a passionate and almost obsessive way of life,” their daughter, Valerie Mnuchin, told Sotheby’s. “They only bought what they both loved.”