The Art of MURDER

Renowned gallerist Brent Sikkema dedicated decades to championing talents like Kara Walker and to building a beautiful life for his family in New York and Rio de Janeiro. So it was a shock when that life came to a spectacularly ugly end—with his estranged husband behind bars.

- BY IAN FRISCH

It’s unclear whether famed New York City art dealer and gallerist Brent Sikkema was asleep in the early morning hours of January 14, 2024, when the intruder first plunged the knife into his chest.

He may have been lying in bed, initially unaware of what was happening to him—and why. He may have, instead, as a crime scene expert working with the Brazilian police suggested, stood up, approached the man in his bedroom doorway, and fought for his life. What is clear is that Sikkema’s body was discovered one day later riddled with stab wounds—18 in total, according to the authorities. Sikkema’s home, an upscale townhouse in Rio de Janeiro’s tony Jardim Botânico neighborhood, was supposed to be his sanctuary, a world away from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, an “oasis,” he once said, that brought him peace—and the place where, upon his death, he wished to have his ashes scattered.

Sikkema’s murder sent shockwaves throughout the fine art world, of which Sikkema, 75, was a cornerstone for more than five decades; he helped catapult a culturally diverse roster of painters, sculptors, and photographers into stardom. In the days after his death, friends and clients lauded his influence in the press and on social media. “Brent Sikkema and I had a personal connection that went well beyond that of gallery director and exhibiting artist,” the famed artist Kara Walker said in a statement to the New York Times for Sikkema’s obituary. “He was a nurturing, protective figure to me when I was a quite young upstart. He saw in me something beyond what either of us could fully articulate, but I think we brought out the best in each other.”