![]() (Photo by Carlo Bavagnoli/Mondadori via Getty Images) ![]() Montecarlo (Principality of Monaco), June 1961. Someone had to empty all those gold and silver ashtrays.Īristotle Onassis at the circular counter of "Ari's Bar" aboard his yacht, the Christina. The staff was roughly the size of an army battalion and equally well-trained. There were ten impeccably appointed staterooms (not counting Onassis’ lavish suite), a library, a salon, a plush den and the intimate Ari’s Bar, which at that time was probably the most exclusive boîte in the world. It was a heart-stoppingly glamorous affair, boasting a Minotaur-themed mosaic swimming pool that could be drained and turned into a raised dance floor at the touch of a button, a dazzling blue lapis lazuli wood-burning fireplace in one of the indoor lounges, a children’s dining room hand-painted by Madeline illustrator Ludwig Bemelmans, frescoes by Marcel Vertes, an office with a Louis XV desk, marble bathtubs, an elevator, 42 telephone lines, and a landing pad for Onassis’ Piaggio seaplane.Ī spiral staircase connected the various decks that were flush with indoor and outdoor areas to relax and entertain. Ironically, one might say that the seafaring Christina symbolized “the jet set” far more than any actual plane. “I don’t think there is a man or woman on earth who would not be seduced by the pure narcissism shamelessly flaunted on this boat,” Burton said, obviously one of the seduced. Paul Getty, Eva Perón, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and many more. Aboard the yacht, Onassis entertained countless luminaries and dignitaries from the worlds of politics, business, and the arts, including Franklin Roosevelt, John and Jackie Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, Ava Gardner, J. After a $4 million renovation, it was rechristened the Christina, in honor of Onassis’ daughter. Originally the HMCS Stormont, a Canadian, WWII-era anti-submarine frigate that aided the Allies during the Normandy landing, the vessel was purchased by Onassis for the scrap value of $34,000. Sir Winston Churchill, in a letter to his wife Clementine, February, 1956 The most beautiful structure I have seen afloat. We are all inspired by world history and art history, but it’s only on rare occasions that these two things come together so spectacularly in one painting.” Previously, the only way to have seen the painting was to have been one of the lucky guests aboard Onassis’ famed Christina. “It’s an exceptional painting,” says Jean-Paul Engelen, Phillips’ Deputy Chairman and Worldwide Co-Head of 20th Century & Contemporary Art, “that comes with an exceptional story, and celebrates an exceptional friendship. Recently discovered by the Onassis family, the impressionistic landscape will be auctioned in New York on June 23 as part of Phillips’ 20th Century and Contemporary Art Evening Sale. ![]() The Moat, Breccles, which Churchill gifted to the Greek shipping magnate around the summer of 1961, was thought to have been lost. ![]() This month, one of the Christina’s greatest treasures-an original oil painting by Sir Winston Churchill-will hit the auction block at Phillips. But as a symbol of a more glamorous and halcyon era, it looms much larger. As a boat, the 325-ft Christina was never lacking in size. And though Bezos’s behemoth will surely have every bell and whistle a modern billionaire could ask for, it’s doubtful it will ever attain the style, the star-wattage or the place in the popular imagination held by the world’s first superyacht, Aristotle Onassis’ Christina. With news breaking this spring that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is commissioning a $500 million, 417-ft superyacht-and that it won’t even be the largest in the world-it’s safe to say we’ve passed the golden age of yachting and have firmly entered the Baroque period. (Photo by Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images) ![]()
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