On 19 January, Valentino Garavani – the last of the great 20th-century couturiers and fashion’s “last emperor” – passed away at his home in Rome. He was 93.
“I am only good for two things in this world,” the legendary Italian designer once said, “designing dresses and the decoration of houses.” Though best remembered for shaping a new vision of beauty that helped define the modern fashion landscape, Valentino’s eye extended far beyond the runway.
He was among the first fashion designers to openly align his brand with contemporary artists, and in 2008 became the first living fashion designer to be honoured with a major retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
His private art collection – refined yet bold, eclectic yet deeply personal – rivals that of any major museum. From Basquiat to Warhol, Picasso to Bacon, his residences were filled with works that reflected a lifelong pursuit of beauty. Here, we trace the eye – and instinct – behind one of fashion's most discerning collectors.
Valentino and his long-time partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, are avid art collectors
Valentino pictured with Jean-Michel Basquiat's El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile) at his New York apartment in 2010
Jean-Michel Basquiat was one of the artists Valentino Garavani collected most extensively. “His use of colour is the strongest out of all those figures,” he once remarked. “He has always fascinated me.”
Among the key works in his collection was El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile) (1983), a monumental painting acquired at Sotheby’s New York in 2005 for US$5.2 million. For nearly two decades, it hung in the living room of his Fifth Avenue residence before being sold at Christie’s in 2023 for US$67.1 million – a thirteen-fold increase that made it the fourth most expensive Basquiat ever sold at auction.
In early 2025, another major Basquiat – Baptismal (1982), measuring 244 x 244 cm – was sold in a private transaction, reportedly from Valentino’s collection. The painting was acquired by an American collector for US$130 million, surpassing the artist’s auction record by US$20 million. Though the sale was never officially confirmed, it quickly became one of the art market’s most talked-about deals of the year.
Jean-Michel Basquiat's El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile)
Jean-Michel Basquiat's Baptismal was sold privately in early 2025
Valentino began collecting Basquiat after the artist’s death, but their paths had crossed decades earlier, during the downtown New York scene of the 1980s.
He once recalled their first encounter: “I met him because he came to my shows – he was in love with a girl who was doing my collection, and he came with her. He was sitting in a corridor of the fashion house and he fell asleep – but you know the most amazing thing is that we all left him there, and he stayed all night; they locked him in the fashion house. He was a charming, charming guy, and very sadly, he died very young.”
Years later, in 2006, Garavani paid tribute to the artist by incorporating licensed Basquiat imagery into his Fall collection, designing a series of evening gowns featuring graffiti-inspired prints – a bold move that brought street art into the rarefied world of haute couture.
Valentino's 2006 Fall collection paid tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat with dresses in a graffiti print licensed from the artist's archive
Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat
During the 1970s, as Valentino established himself in New York and became a fixture in American fashion circles, he moved in the same social orbit as many of the city's leading artists – including Andy Warhol, a close friend of Basquiat and a frequent presence in Valentino's life at the time.
Valentino was frequently invited to the Factory, where he recalled being struck by the casual chaos of the studio. “He was very nice all the time with me,” he said. “He invited me many times, and I was admiring all the paintings on the floor – you had to be careful not to step on them. He was a charming person with lots of intriguing ways to talk. He was very, very nice.”
Warhol eventually proposed painting Valentino's portrait, starting with a Polaroid – one of the many he was always snapping – which led to a series of four paintings. At the time, Valentino wasn’t entirely sure about them and asked for time to think. He didn’t buy them immediately, but returned to the idea years later. By then, two had entered a museum collection in Chicago, while the remaining two were still available – and ultimately found their way into his own collection.
One of Andy Warhol's portraits of Valentino
(Left): A painting from Andy Warhol's Flowers series; (Right): A spot painting by Damien Hirst
“I love beauty,” Valentino once said. “It’s not my fault.” The impulse to collect, he explained, was instinctive: “Automatically, when you see a beautiful painting with beautiful colours – a Picasso or a Basquiat – you try and put it in your collection.”
Though rarely seen in its entirety, glimpses from interviews and photographs of his homes reveal a deep engagement with both 20th-century masters and contemporary icons. Here are some of the artists represented in his collection:
Lucio Fontana
Among the first artists Valentino collected was Lucio Fontana, the Italian pioneer who founded the Spatialism movement. In his iconic Tagli (slash) series, Fontana cut through the canvas with a blade, opening the surface to the infinite and freeing painting from the confines of two-dimensional space.
Arnaldo Pomodoro
Another early acquisition was a work by Arnaldo Pomodoro, also Italian, known for his bronze sculptures with smooth, geometric exteriors and fractured cores. These torn or ruptured forms reveal intricate internal structures – a tension between perfection and disruption that lends the work its dynamic energy.
Francis Bacon
In his Paris home hangs a portrait of George Dyer by Francis Bacon. Dyer, a former London burglar, became Bacon’s lover and muse, and their volatile relationship inspired some of the artist’s most emotionally charged paintings. The portrait speaks to the raw intensity that runs through much of Bacon’s work – something that clearly resonated with Valentino.
Fernando Botero
There is also Fernando Botero, the Colombian artist best known for his voluminous, rounded figures in both sculpture and painting. His characters, with their compressed facial features and exaggerated scale, may appear playful at first glance, but often carry a sharper, satirical edge, reflecting on Latin American politics and society.
François-Xavier Lalanne
In Valentino’s home stands one of François-Xavier Lalanne’s most iconic works – a fully functioning bar in the shape of a bull. Another of his fantastical creations, a life-sized hippopotamus bar, set a record for design objects when it sold at auction in New York for over US$31 million in December last year. Also found throughout his residences are other surreal pieces by Lalanne, including a crocodile armchair and a flock of sheep sculptures.
A Lucio Fotana Tagli painting at Valentino's New York apartment
Valentino pictured with a portrait of George Dyer by Francis Bacon
Valentino pictured with a Fernando Botero painting
A bull-shaped bar by François-Xavier Lalanne, collected by Valentino
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso has long been a touchstone, and Valentino is a devoted admirer. At one point, he displayed five Picassos in his London home, while his partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, even acquired two pieces directly from the artist’s tailor.
Willem de Kooning
From the postwar American scene, Willem de Kooning appears in the collection. A key figure in Abstract Expressionism, de Kooning’s work rejected figurative tradition in favour of raw lines, gestural energy, and emotional ambiguity. Emerging from the cultural aftermath of World War II, his paintings embody both the freedom and the anxiety of a shifting world order.
Damien Hirst
That energy takes a more conceptual – and controversial – turn in the work of Damien Hirst. Known for his provocative, often macabre work – from preserved animals in formaldehyde to skulls and floating “sunken treasures” – Hirst explores the boundaries between science, art, and spectacle. Valentino owns several works, including one of the artist’s signature spot paintings.
Richard Prince
In 2008, Valentino acquired Overseas Nurse from Prince’s well-known "Nurse" series for US$8.4 million, setting an auction record for the artist at the time. He also owns Mumbai, a work from the "After Dark" series – both pieces reflecting Prince’s ongoing dialogue with appropriation, pop culture, and identity.
Cy Twombly
Cy Twombly held a uniquely personal place in Valentino’s life. A close friend, he became the setting – quite literally – for a collaboration between fashion and art. In 1968, Valentino staged his White Collection – a series of all-white looks that celebrated silhouette and texture – and shot a Vogue photoshoot in Twombly’s Roman apartment. The images from that campaign have since become iconic within fashion circles.
A Picasso painting in Valentino's apartment
Willem de Kooning's Untitled XIV (1982) in Valentino's New York apartment
Giancarlo Giammetti with Richard Prince’s Overseas Nurse
Valentino's collection photographed in Cy Twombly's Rome apartment for Vogue U.S.A. in 1968
A Cy Twombly painting in Valentino's Rome apartment