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From personal artworks to film memorabilia—selections from Gene Hackman’s personal collection, amassed over a lifetime, were sold across a series of auctions at Bonhams in New York from November 19 to December 4. They cleaned up: the three sales realized a collective $3 million and saw all 400-plus of its lots finding new homes.
When Hackman died in February aged 95, he left behind a storied stage and screen career that spanned more than 60 years. In that time, the actor chalked up star turns in films from The Conversation (1974) to The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), clinching two Academy Awards for his roles in The French Connection (1971) and Unforgiven (1992). But he also cultivated a quiet visual arts practice, with a collection to match.
Gene Hackman’s Santa Fe studio. Photo courtesy of Bonhams.
A graduate of the Art Students League of New York, Hackman found a separate outlet in painting and drawing, sometimes creating charcoal sketches of his fellow cast members while on film sets. After retiring from acting around 2008, Hackman withdrew to his Santa Fe home, where he took to writing and painting full time. “It’s more private,” he said of his literary pursuit. “I feel like I have more control over what I’m trying to say and do.”
Hackman has five novels to his name; one of his Gauguin-esque canvases was also found hanging at local restaurant Jinja Bar & Bistro. His studio overflowed with traces of his creative work: a paint-splattered easel, sketches, tubes of acrylic paint, sculpted busts, and annotated catalogues raisonnés.
Gene Hackman’s Santa Fe studio. Photo courtesy of Bonhams.
His eye has also shaped the art he collected, which ranged from Postwar and Contemporary works to Western and Native American pieces. The first sale at Bonhams of 13 paintings was led by a Modernist canvas by Milton Avery, Figure on the Jetty (c. 1950s), which depicts a lone individual gazing out on a placid sea. The work entered Hackman’s collection in 1997, following outings at the Miami University Museum of Art and the Chrysler Museum of Art, which previously owned the painting. It fetched $508,500.
Milton Avery, Figure on the Jetty (1957). Photo courtesy of Bonhams.
Also hitting the block was Hackman’s Richard Diebenkorn color etching, one of 145 paintings from the artist’s “Ocean Park” series of abstract landscapes. This one, titled Green (1986), is dominated by a lush green expanse, enclosed by geometric forms in blue, red, and off-white, and lightly grazed with red lines. It realized $419,600, within estimate.
Other highlights include a striking work on paper by Native American artist Fritz Scholder—a leading lot at the first sale where it sold for $152,900. An Auguste Rodin bronze nude, meanwhile, made $108,450.
Richard Diebenkorn, Green (1986). Photo courtesy of Bonhams.
“These are prestigious works with impeccable provenance, further enriched by their association with one of the greatest actors of our time,” Andrew Huber, the auction house’s head of 20th and 21st-century art, said ahead of the sale. “Hackman was not only a collector but an artist himself, and his approach to collecting mirrors the care, aesthetic sensibility, and discipline evident in his own artistic practice.”
The second and third auctions offered artifacts from Hackman’s film and art hoard. Among the hot lots was Hackman’s trio of Golden Globes, with his trophy for The Royal Tenenbaums bringing in $51,200 and his award for Unforgiven realizing $43,520.
Other artifacts from his film work also exceeded their estimates: a clutch of materials from The Royal Tenenbaums brought in $8,960, almost 30 times its estimate, while his relics from French Connection sold for more than 17 times its estimate at $5,376. The actor’s early treatment for Silence of the Lambs, completed in 1988 and ultimately unrealized, went for $5,376, some 10 times its estimate.
Gene Hackman’s Best Performance Golden Globe Award for Unforgiven (1992). Photo courtesy of Bonhams.
Hackman’s own artworks—from tender vistas to still lifes to striking portraits—also proved a hit on the market. His vivid painting of poppies brought in $14,080 and a serene New Mexico landscape realized $10,240. Even his personal easel realized a neat $10,880. But it was Hackman’s iteration of Russian painter Philipp Malyavin’s Peasant Women (1905) that logged a high, when it sold for $28,160.
“We are thrilled with the exceptional response and remarkable results achieved across all sales of the Gene Hackman Collection,” Anna Hicks, the auction house’s head of private and iconic collections, said in a statement. “Spanning Modern and American fine art to cinematic memorabilia, this collection offered an intimate glimpse into Hackman’s creative life, which deeply resonated with collectors and enthusiasts alike, resulting in a perfect sell-through.”
This story was originally published on October 16, 2025. It was updated on December 5, 2025, at 4.13 p.m. ET, with the auction results.
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