Inside the Inaugural Creators & Collectors Night at the Sotheby’s New York Galleries

Since 1966, the Breuer Building at the corner of Madison Avenue and 75th Street has held a singular place in New York’s cultural landscape. Designed as a bold modernist structure, it has served as the Whitney Museum of American Art, later transformed into The Met Breuer, and most recently functioned as the temporary home of The Frick Collection. Just one month ago, the building entered a new chapter as the official headquarters of Sotheby’s International—a transition marked by the widely publicized $700 million sale of Leonard Lauder’s art collection. On Tuesday night, that evolution felt unmistakably complete as Sotheby’s partnered with Tiffany & Co., Edition Hotels, and Sotheby’s International Realty to host the inaugural Creators & Collectors dinner.

The evening began in the building’s lobby, where guests were welcomed with cocktails, including an array of Negroni interpretations courtesy of Lake Como Edition. As drinks circulated, attendees lingered beneath oversized Damien Hirst polka-dot works, setting a distinctly contemporary tone. The gathering marked the launch of Creators & Collectors, a new initiative spearheaded by Kristina O’Neill, Sotheby’s head of media. Addressing the room, she framed the night as a tribute to the people who shape cultural progress. “This evening is about honoring the forces that move our world forward,” she said. “The creators who generate ideas, and the collectors whose curiosity and belief allow those ideas to thrive.”

The guest list reflected both international influence and local creative power. Among those in attendance were Carolyn Murphy, Iman, Gabriela Hearst, and Tory Burch. Also present were all five figures featured on the cover of the latest issue of Sotheby’s magazine: Jen Rubio, Thelma Golden, Peter Marino, Jon Batiste, and Julian Schnabel, underscoring the evening’s emphasis on creative exchange.

During dinner, Schnabel offered an impromptu reflection that blended humor with nostalgia. “It’s funny—when you first come to this city, you want invitations to these kinds of events and you never get them,” he said. “Then later, when you finally do, you often don’t want to go. But I have to say, this is a very pleasant night.” He went on to recall mounting an exhibition in the very same room back in 1987. At the time, he noted, the space lacked the walls that now define it, and a carpet covered the floor—one he removed because it interfered with how he wanted his paintings to be seen. “The carpet felt very corporate,” he said. Sitting there decades later, he reflected on how meaningful both the building and that moment had been to his career.

The dining room itself was staged with works from the estate of Anne Schlumberger, featuring pieces by Dale Chihuly and François-Xavier Lalanne. Among the standout objects was Lalanne’s iconic copper hippopotamus-shaped bar, which would later sell at auction for $31,430,000—far surpassing its $7 million estimate. Throughout the evening, a few guests were spotted casually testing the bar’s cabinet doors, unbothered by supervision; after all, many were potential buyers.

Lily Allen, however, joked that she was sitting this round of shopping out. “My credit card has been declined three times today,” she laughed. “I went to The Row—declined. I tried to buy a fur coat on Madison Avenue—declined. I definitely have the money, but I think touring nonstop has confused my bank. One day I’m in London, then Paris, then New York, then L.A.” While art acquisitions weren’t on her agenda that night, she did mention recently purchasing a piece by artist Tomo Campbell. “It’s just really lovely,” she said.

Dessert arrived as a conceptual finale. Pastry artist Paris Starn presented an edible tribute to the Breuer Building itself: a sculptural dessert designed to echo the structure’s stark exterior, accompanied by pourable gray chocolate meant to resemble cement. Like any ambitious artwork, the creation sparked mixed reactions, prompting lively conversation as guests sampled what turned out to be surprisingly delicious slabs of “concrete.”

By night’s end, the inaugural Creators & Collectors dinner had firmly established itself not only as a celebration of art and design, but as a signal of Sotheby’s renewed presence within one of New York’s most historically significant cultural spaces—where legacy and contemporary creativity now coexist under one iconic roof.