Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez Fuel Rumors of Major Art Purchase After Being Spotted at Art Basel Miami The pair hosted the FIRST Inspire Gala on Thursday.
By Emily Rella
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
Billionaire Jeff Bezos and his fiancé Lauren Sanchez took to their future home in Miami, Florida, over the weekend to attend the coveted annual Art Basel event.
The art installation show, which ran from Friday, December 8 through Sunday, December 10, at the Miami Beach Convention Center, has in recent years become a week-long marathon of events, parties, dinners, and brand installations that attract the influencer types and the who's-who of the art scene.
Earlier in the week, select VIPs were invited to preview some of the 250 galleries of modern and contemporary art before they were open to the public.
Related: Lauren Sanchez Gives Vogue Details on Jeff Bezos Engagement
Bezos and Sanchez were spotted during VIP previews on Thursday alongside Marc Glimcher, the chief executive of Pace Gallery and a prominent dealer in the modern art world. Glimcher gained mass notoriety in the art world in 2012 when he sold a painting to German visual artist Gerhard Richter at Art Basel in Switzerland for a cool $20 million.
Bezos and Sanchez were hosting the FIRST Inspire Gala at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel, honoring Ursula Burns, CEO of XEROX, to benefit youth in STEM.
Guests attend the FIRST® & i.am/Angel Foundation during Art Basel Miami at Loews Miami Beach Hotel on December 06, 2023 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Ivan Apfel/Getty Images for FIRST)
The pair fueled rumors that a purchase might have been made, as Bezos is known to be a big spender on art.
In 2019, he reportedly spent $70 million on two massive works of art — namely Ed Ruscha's "Hurting the Word Radio #2" (1964) for $52.5 million at Christie's and Kerry James Marshall's "Vignette 19" (2014) for $18.5 million at Sotheby's.
Related: Art Basel ATM Exhibit Publicly Shares Your Bank Account Total
It is unclear if the pair purchased art at the event.
Bezos' net worth as of Monday afternoon was an estimated $172 billion.
