David Wildenstein

David Wildenstein is the heir to renowned art dealer Daniel Wildenstein and co-managing partner at Wildenstein&Co. Additionally, he invests in several businesses.

David Wildenstein has earned a reputation for being a fierce competitor and takes an uncompromising approach to his work. Yet beneath it all he cares deeply about his family and does what he believes to be right.

Early Life and Education

David Wildenstein is the grandson of Nathan Wildenstein, who established an art-dealing empire in Paris during the late 1800s. His family owns priceless works by renowned painters such as Monet and Renoir which they store safely away in anonymous vaults across several continents.

In addition to their art-dealing business, the Wildensteins possess a substantial real estate portfolio as well as an equine breeding and racing operation.

The company is renowned for its research, publication and distribution of catalogues raisonnes–exhaustive books on individual artists. The Wildensteins have effectively controlled this field of scholarship for generations.

One of the largest trials in French history is currently taking place in Paris, featuring three heirs to the Wildenstein dynasty on trial for tax fraud and money laundering charges. The case has generated widespread media coverage over its span.

Professional Career

David Wildenstein has earned notoriety as the heir to a century-old art dealing dynasty. He is married to Lucrezia Buccellati, a jewelry designer, and they have one child.

He was a renowned Impressionist scholar, editor of numerous catalogues featuring paintings by masters such as Renoir, Courbet, Van Gogh and Gauguin. Additionally he played an influential role in organizing numerous international exhibitions of great reputation.

He was an acclaimed writer on art, with his definitive biography of Monet becoming a classic classic in its field. Additionally, he served as president of the American Institute of France in New York.

Achievements and Honors

Daniel Wildenstein was an esteemed art historian and member of the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He edited several international journals such as Arts and Gazette des Beaux-Arts, as well as spearheading many prestigious international exhibitions.

Wildenstein also wrote several works on Impressionist painters such as Monet and Gauguin, becoming a world authority on this topic. In addition, he edited catalogs raisonnes for various 18th, 19th, and 20th century artists.

He was also embroiled in two highly publicized court cases involving stolen Nazi art. A failed libel action last year against an art historian accused Wildenstein’s father Georges of collaboration with the Nazis; and a second, currently being heard in New York, involves allegations that eight rare medieval books of hours, looted by Nazis in 1940, actually belonged to Jewish collector Alphonse Kann and not the Wildensteins.

Personal Life

Art heir David Wildenstein is engaged in a dispute with a Manhattan billionaire over the legal sale of one of his family’s townhouses. Len Blavatnik, partner at Access Industries, claims Wildenstein violated a verbal agreement to sell him the 20-foot high property on East 64th Street.

The Wildenstein family has a long-standing reputation for being embroiled in controversy. Their fortune consists of priceless artwork hidden away in anonymous vaults around the globe.

Their business empire was established by the late Daniel Wildenstein, who built a lucrative empire by selling 18th-century French paintings.

Net Worth

The Wildenstein family is one of the richest families in history. Their fortune is built upon art dealing, with a vast collection featuring masterpieces by Monet, Vermeer and Picasso.

Nathan Wildenstein founded this business after fleeing his Alsace village of Feigershein when Prussian forces invaded in 1870. He began collecting 18th-century French paintings and quickly became wealthy through their sale.

His son Alec, the head of the dynasty, took over the business upon his father’s passing. Their company – still active today – has its regal limestone headquarters on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.