All Things Abramovich

The Art
Profligate Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is bankrolling a major Francis Bacon exhibition at his gorgeous 27-year-old girlfriend Dasha Zhukova's new Moscow art gallery in 2010. The show at the luxe gallery, called the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture and also financed by Abramovich, will be entitled Death Shadowing Life: Francis Bacon: The Late Paintings, 1971-92, and will subsequently travel to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, The Art Newspaper reports. The announcement would seem to explain Abramovich's astounding $86.3 million acquisition of a Bacon triptych at Sotheby's in May. Zhukova's gallery officially opens on Sept. 16 with an Ilya Kabakov retrospective.


The Homes
In 2008 we learned that Abramovich was working on the most expensive private residence in Britain. He also picked up an Aspen home. This isn't just any Aspen home, this is Wildcat Ridge, the modern home of Leon Hirsch. We've been following Hirsch's struggle to sell this home since February of 2005. Hirsch sold to Abramovich for $36.375 million. Wildcat Ridge has 11 bedrooms is perched at an elevation of 9,200 feet on Wildcat Ridge offering views for miles. The home, designed by Voorsanger Architects, has a dramatic folded plate roof and a large moss rock wall dividing the east and west wings of the building. The home gets its energy from 60 geothermal wells so that it is virtually self sufficient. The wells heat the home, driveway and pool during the winter months and provide cooling in the summer. It also comes with 32 pieces of furniture custom designed for the home. Abramovich also owns homes in other places including the south of France.


The Yachts
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's new $355 million, 555-ft. Eclipse, designed to be the world's biggest, will have a military-grade missile defense system to keep the oligarch safe. The Eclipse is also being equipped with armor plating surrounding the bridge and Abramovich's master suite, as well as bullet-proof windows. There's also a submarine that can be launched underwater and dive to a depth of 160 ft. that doubles as an escape pod, as well as two helicopter pads. C Abramovich owns three other megayachts already: the 377 ft. Pelorus, the 282 ft. Ecstasea and the 160 ft. Sussurro.