Philip Niarchos

Philip Niarchos (alternately: Philippos or Philippe; Greek: Φίλιππος Νιάρχος) (born 1954) is a Greek billionaire, the eldest son of the Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos and Eugenia Livanos, herself the elder daughter of Stavros Niarchos' rival Stavros G. Livanos.

Inheritance and work

Philip Niarchos was reported to be 54 in 2008 when The Sunday Times estimated his net worth at GBP 850 million, or about $1.687 billion US at that exchange rate of that time.^[2] Alongside his younger brother, Spyros, Niarchos is Co-President and member of the Board of Directors at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.^[3] He is an International Council Member of London's Tate Gallery.

Art collector

Niarchos owns his late father's art collection. The late Stavros Niarchos amassed one of the "most important collections of Impressionist and modern art in private hands."^[4] Among the collection's trophies are Pablo Picasso's self-portrait Yo, Picasso, which the father had bought in 1989 for $47,850,000.^[5]

Niarchos has made plenty of additions to his father's legacy. He was suspected as being the anonymous buyer of Vincent van Gogh's "Self-Portrait", at a November 1998 Christie's auction; it sold for $71.5 million.^[4] He was certainly at the auction and was revealed as the anonymous buyer of Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1982 Self-Portrait, which closed at $3.3 million.^[5][6] In 1994, he bought Andy Warhol's Red Marilyn, at Christie's for $3.63 million.^[5] Andy Warhol's skull portraits are from Niarchos' CAT scan.^[7] Warhol completed these works in 1985, using silkscreens made from CAT-scan films of the skull of Philip Niarchos, who commissioned the artist to paint his portrait.^[5] Niarchos is mentioned throughout The Andy Warhol Diaries. Warhol shares details of the dysfunctional relationship Niarchos had with the divorced and widowed socialite Barbara (née Tanner) de Kwiatkowski. Her married name was Barbara Allen at the time of her relationship with Niarchos; now she is the widow of Henryk de Kwiatkowski.^[8]

Marriage and family

In 1984, Niarchos married Victoria Christina Guinness (b. 30 January 1960), daughter of Patrick Benjamin Guinness (of the non-aristocratic branch of the renowned brewery family) and Dolores Guinness (1936–2012). Niarchos and Guinness have two sons and two daughters.

• Stavros Niarchos II (b. 17 April 1985)
• Eugenie Niarchos (b. 15 July 1986), also sometimes referred to as Eugenia
• Theodorakis (b. 3 April 1991)
• Electra (b. 5 July 1995)

Niarchos was a first cousin of the late heiress Christina Onassis whose mother Athina Livanos (1929–1974) was a younger sister of his own mother and later became his father's last wife. Niarchos is a first cousin once removed of Athina Onassis de Miranda.

Notes

1. ↑ "Philip Niarchos". Forbes. Retrieved 28 March 2015. 
2. ↑ The Sunday Times' Rich List, 2008
3. ↑ MoMa's profile for Philip Niarchos
4. 1 2 Vogel, Carol: "Van Gogh Self-Portrait Sells for $71.5 Million", The New York Times, 20 November 1998
5. 1 2 3 4 Decker, Andrew: "The Basquiat Room", Art Net Magazine
6. ↑ Decker, Andrew: "Paul Cezanne's Painting Ends Up in Las Vegas after Sale Goes Sour", The New York Observer, 24 October 1999.
7. ↑ Norwich, William: "Gianfranco Ferre and the Architecture of Design", The New York Observer, 4 April 1999.
8. ↑ Gurley, George: "Barbara of Beekman Place", The New York Observer, 25 March 2007.

External links

• The Stavros Niarchos Foundation