Lauren Bacall’s fear of empty spaces on display in auction

Not only did Lauren Bacall have to her name numerous film classics and two Oscarwinning husbands, the American actress also amassed a collection of objects ranging from works of art by Miro, Goya, Picasso and Henry Moore to trinkets of questionable taste, all of which are now going up for auction.

With her catlike grace, Bacall not only captivated filmgoers in movies such as “Key Largo” and “The Big Sleep”, she also dedicated time to collecting art, although as one of the men in her life, Frank Sinatra, might have put it, she did it her way.

“This is more the property of a collector who happened to be a celebrity rather than a celebrity auction,” Bonhams Vice President Jon King told Efe.

The auction house expects the items on offer in the March 31April 1 auction to generate around $3 million, which is not high considering the number of lots, 740. This is what makes the sale extraordinary.

“She didn’t care if it was $10 or $100,000. It had to appeal to her. If she liked it, if it appealed to her, she would collect it,” King said.

Henry Moore sculptures and paintings by Goya shared space in Bacall’s New York apartment with ceramics decorated with tomatoes and peppers, vases in the shape of corncobs and embroidered pillows with images of the great passion of her life, her pets.

There are also Armani and Yves Saint Laurent dresses, a lamp made from newspaper clippings about “Cactus Flower” and two director’s chair, one with her name on it and the other for her dog.

Soon after the death of first husband Humphrey Bogart, Bacall bought an apartment for just under $500,000 in New York’s Dakota building, where the exterior shots for horror film “Rosemary’s Baby” were filmed and where another famous resident, John Lennon, was gunned down in 1980.

Bacall’s home became a temple to “horror vacui,” or the fear of empty spaces, for the sheer quantity of objects that now fill several rooms at Bonhams New York.

The eightroom apartment at the Dakota, where the Hollywood star lived until her death last Aug. 12 at the age of 89, has gone on the market for $26 million.