Originally published in the August 2015 issue of Robb Report Collection as “To Infinity and Beyond.”

When the air had cleared after the frenzy of New York’s spring art auctions, players and spectators alike were left feeling winded. From the leadoff at Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale on May 5, where the top lot was a Vincent van Gogh canvas that brought in $66.3 million against an estimate of $40 million, through the multiple sales that ended the following week, the bounty of mast…