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Frank Gehry’s Icehenge Achieves Highest Sale Ever for Artist

The July 15 auction saw the 16-piece glass desk fetch $243,200

By Alexandria Sillo
Modern glass sculpture installation with angular shapes in a lobby setting, featuring a reflective floor and white curtains.
Icehenge desk from the lobby of the Inland Steel Building. Photo: Courtesy of Freeman’s

Frank Gehry’s 16-piece glass desk titled Icehenge has achieved the highest sale price ever for the artist, after it sold for $243,200 at Freeman’s on Wednesday. The 2012 work, which was initially commissioned for Chicago’s iconic Inland Steel Building, weighs about 15,000 pounds and is made of green-tinted glass.

Gehry, who died at age 96 in 2025, had previously told the Chicago Tribune that the piece “does look like an explosion in a glass factory, kind of. If you actually had an explosion at a glass factory, apart from everyone getting killed, it would be pretty exciting visually.”

Man in a blue blazer stands next to wooden barrels in a dimly lit room.
Frank Gehry in Cognac. Photo: Courtesy of Hennessy
Stacked translucent glass blocks with abstract shapes on a speckled floor, set against a curtain backdrop.
Icehenge (details) desk from the lobby of the Inland Steel Building. Photo: Courtesy of Freeman’s
Close-up of a clear, sculpted glass object with intricate curves and reflections against a blurred green background.
Icehenge (details) desk from the lobby of the Inland Steel Building. Photo: Courtesy of Freeman’s

Gehry is considered one of the world’s most successful and recognizable architects. During his lengthy career, he reshaped cityscapes with structures that carried sculptural bravado and an unmistakable sense of movement, from the gleaming curves of the Guggenheim Bilbao to the rippling surfaces of Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, extending to the billowing glass sails of Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.

“We were thrilled when the opportunity to sell Icehenge was presented to us,” said Roger Ward, vice president, head of department, design, at Freeman’s. “The buyer is also dedicated to maintaining public access to Icehenge and is considering a temporary loan to a suitable museum or institution. Currently, no specific plans have been finalized.”

Modern building lobby with reflective floor, illuminated ceiling panels, and a view of the cityscape through large windows.
Icehenge desk in the lobby of the Inland Steel Building. Photo: Courtesy of Freeman’s

The piece sold alongside Paul Jenkin’s Phenomena Offshore (1964), Karl Priebe’s Young Whip-Poor-Will (1946), Vladimir Nemukhin’s Solitaire (1967), Thomas Martin Uttech’s Untilted, (1982), and other highlights.

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