Notes

For my latest article for Sotheby's Magazine, 1 travelled to Palm Beach to meet Ronnie Heyman and discuss one of the defining works in her collection: Roy Lichtenstein's "The Engagement Ring" from 1961. It was the largest of the four paintings Lichtenstein showed to Ivan Karp at Leo Castelli Gallery in the autumn of 1961 — a turning point that set him on the path to becoming one of the most influential American artists of the 20th century. The painting went on an extraordinary journey, moving between different collections in the United States and Italy. It was first acquired by Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo, and later by Ernst Wilhelm Sachs, who hung it in the sunken living room of his legendary Rome apartment designed by Giorgio Pes and Roberto Federici. Heyman first encountered the painting in her youth at an exhibition at The Met. Decades later, she was offered the chance to acquire it. Today, it remains one of the most treasured works in her collection. Read the full story via the link in my bio. Photograph 1: Ronnie Heyman in her Palm Beach apartment with Roy Lichtenstein's "The Engagement Ring" (1961). Photographed by Lucas Oliver Mill in 2025. Photograph 2: "The Engagement Ring" hangs in the Rome apartment of Ernst Wilhelm Sachs. Photographed by Carla de Benedetti in the early 1970s. Photograph 3: Lichtenstein at Leo Castelli Gallery with "The Engagement Ring". Photographed by Bill Ray in 1962. - Via Lucas Oliver Mill for Collectorwalls