(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
As one of Hollywood’s most successful and highest paid actors of all time, with his films grossing over $7.2 billion worldwide, Leonardo DiCaprio is certainly not short of money. With that, the actor, whose big break came in the 1993 film What eats Gilbert grapes?devotes a significant portion of its income to art, ranging from classical to contemporary artists.
It seems an interest in art has been ingrained in the star since he was in his mother’s womb. The actor was named after iconic painter Leonardo da Vinci because DiCaprio’s pregnant mother first felt him kicking while standing in front of one of his paintings. The actor also cites one of his earliest memories as the painting The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch, hanging above his cradle.
To the general public, DiCaprio is well known for his roles in movies such as Titanic, Romeo + Juliet, The wolf of Wall Street, and The Infiltrators. However, in the art world, he is recognized as a frequent visitor to art fairs such as Art Basel, one of the biggest shows in the industry. It’s here that the actor took home some incredibly sought-after pieces, like Frank Stella’s 1973 serigraph Double Gray Scramble, for almost a million dollars.
However, one of DiCaprio’s first purchases was a drawing by Jean-Michel Basquiat, which remains unknown to the public. He once said to the wall street journal: “In New York, Andy Warhol, Basquiat, Francesco Clemente and Julian Schnabel were the guys who were big in the 1980s when I started to understand art better. They were my heroes, and I continued to be a great admirer of Basquiat.
In 2011, he bought a piece of another massive name – artist and filmmaker Salvador Dalí. The bid took place at Christie’s auction house in New York, with the actor getting the surreal painting Knight for $1.2 million. That same year, DiCaprio also spent $400,000 on Under the influence by Oscar Murillo. A few years later, the actor bought domain by Brooklyn artist Jean-Pierre Roy.
DiCaprio’s collection also includes a small 1939 drawing by Pablo Picasso titled little girl. He praises works such as The tigress by Walton Ford, Untitled (Drawings on the wall) by Murillo, and Takashi Murakami Mononoke. In 2013, the actor held a charity auction for environmental causes, the 11th hour, which featured part of DiCaprio’s private collection, including that of Mark Grotjahn Untitled (Standard Lotus No.11, Bird of Paradise, Tiger Mouth Face 44.01) And Ocean V by Andreas Gursky. A portrait of the actor himself sold at auction for $1 million, painted by Elizabeth Peyton.
Additionally, DiCaprio collects vintage movie posters, owning an original poster of Metropolis by Heinz Schulz-Neudamm, which cost him $690,000. He is also an avid collector of fossils and rare books, including a Torvosaurus skull.