Michael Macaulay

Michael Macaulay is a leading specialist in the international art market with special expertise in Modern and Contemporary Art. He joined The Fine Art Group in December 2025 as EVP, Head of the European Art Division, following 18 years at Sotheby's, both in his native London and a decade in New York. He held various positions during his tenure at the auction house, including as Deputy Chairman and Head of Contemporary Art, Europe; Senior Vice President, Head of Contemporary Art Evening Auctions; Director of Client Coverage, Global Fine Arts, and as one of Sotheby’s principal auctioneers. He was integral to many of the most celebrated auctions of the past two decades and was also consistently one of the firm's top private sales experts. He remains a trusted advisor to an extensive array of international private collectors, museums and institutions.

In addition to orchestrating hundreds of transactions totalling several billion dollars at Sotheby’s, Michael was particularly instrumental on the consignment and sale sides for the following esteemed private collections: Emily Fisher Landau (2023); Mo Ostin (2023); David M. Solinger (2022); Macklowe (2021-22); Anne Marion (2021); Blema and H. Arnold Steinberg (2019); Morton And Barbara Mandel (2018); Bunny Mellon (2014); Pierre and São Schlumberger (2014); Christian Duerckheim (2011); Lenz Schönberg (2010); and Helga and Walther Lauffs (2008). He was also influential to major fundraising auctions for museums and institutions such as: The Studio Museum (2018); MoCA, LA (2015); The Whitney Museum (2013); and The Serpentine Gallery (2011).

As an auctioneer since 2016, he has conducted a number of Sotheby's top tier Evening Auctions, as well as numerous high-profile sales across various categories internationally. He is a passionate benefit auctioneer who has helped raise tens of millions of dollars for a variety of extraordinary causes including amfAR, UNICEF, and UNHCR. He has also conducted benefit auctions for various distinguished institutions including The Art Institute of Chicago, The Dallas Museum of Art, The Norton Museum of Art Palm Beach, The Aspen Art Museum and The Parrish Art Museum Southampton.

Michael holds a First Class Honours degree from the Courtauld Institute in the History of Art and was also awarded the Institute Prize for his final year dissertation on fifteenth-century Florentine ceramics. Before joining Sotheby’s, he was an English teacher in Beijing and prior to that worked in investment banking executive search.