De la Cruz Collection Shutters Design District Home, Art to be Auctioned Off

The end of one of Miami's most significant collections of contemporary art has arrived.

According to a report by Artnet's Katya Kazakina, the de la Cruz Collection in the Design District has closed following the death of its patron, Rosa de la Cruz, in late February. The 30,000-square-foot exhibition space hosted its last public event, a memorial gathering for Rosa, on March 2, and is set to be sold along with all the art inside.

According to Artnet, the entire de la Cruz family art collection will be sold at auction. Massive auction house Christie's, which has an office in the Design District, will handle the sale, which is expected to be staggered over several sales so as not to negatively inflate the markets of certain artists. The collection, which reportedly numbers around 1,000 pieces, is estimated to be worth a total of $30 million.

Leadership at the de la Cruz Collection and representatives from Christie's did not immediately respond to a request for comment from New Times.
According to Kazakina, sources close to the family have said that auctioning the artworks is part of the family's estate planning and has been in the works for at least the last decade. Rosa herself explained her and her husband's, Carlos, mentality in the New York Times in 2009, saying, "Every collector needs to realize you can't take it with you. The works will either go to an institution, which might not be able to show them; to your kids, who might not want them; or to an auction house." It seems she decided to take the third option.

While de la Cruz's death has deprived Miami of a significant patron, the family provided financial support to many local artists, students, and institutions such as the Pérez Art Museum Miami. The auction news means that Miami may also see one of its most important and valuable privately held art collections scattered to the winds. A recent visit to the museum counted significant works by Cuban-American artists such as Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Carlos Alfonzo, and Ana Mendieta, as well as pieces by Vaughn Spann, Thomas Houseago, Sterling Ruby, Wade Guyton, and other art-world stars.

The fate of the three-story building on Northeast 41st Street that was home to the private museum, which opened in 2009, also remains in flux. Some have speculated that it could be turned into an extension of the nearby Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, which opened its permanent museum building just steps away from the collection in 2017.
The museum, which did not charge admission, had under a dozen employees at the time of de la Cruz's death. It was originally conceived as a more publicly accessible extension of the family's home on Key Biscayne, where they exhibited pieces from their collection for guests. From the time Art Basel Miami Beach debuted in 2002, the de la Cruz's home was a destination for the art world during Miami Art Week.

One could say the loss of such a collection calls into question the collector-driven model of art exhibition that Miami has made its name on. Rosa de la Cruz was 81 when she died. Art titans Don and Mera Rubell are also octogenarians, and Martin Margulies is nearing 90. What will happen to their collections when they die?

At least one major collector, billionaire property developer Jorge Pérez, has taken the museum route, pledging his entire collection to PAMM upon his death. Past donations of cash and art led the institution, formerly the Miami Art Museum, to rename itself in his name. A portion of Pérez's collection is on display at El Espacio 23, a private art museum similar to the now-shuttered de la Cruz Collection.