Notes

The New York apartment of Jean and Terry de Gunzourg, designed by Jacques Grange. One of the great collectors' homes of the 21st century. Among the de Gunzburgs' most prized possessions is their Francis Bacon triptych, 'Studies from the Human Body' (1979), which fills an entire wall in their dining room. They are thought to have acquired the triptych in 2001, when it was auctioned by its previous owner, Stanley J. Seeger, at Sotheby's. It sold for $8.6 million - then a record price for a Bacon. Today, it would be considered a steal compared to the nine-figure sums some of his triptychs command. The triptych's previous life was no less storied. Seeger, a reclusive and unpredictable collector, once hung it in the Great Hall of Sutton Place, his Tudor manor outside London and former home of J. Paul Getty. Mounted against the dark wood panelling, it caused a scandal in the 1980s. Bacon himself visited and, famously hard to please, declared he loved it there. The dining room, where the Bacon triptych hangs on the far wall. The dining chairs are by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann (c.1930s) and the rug is by Ivan de Silva Bruhns (also c. 1930s). - Via Lucas Oliver Mill for Collectorwalls