Ten months on from a death that stunned the world, David Bowie remains as much an object of public fascination, and as much of an enigma, as ever. But one thing everyone agrees on is that the essence of Bowie’s creativity lay in its restless, mercurial diversity. And this quality is as apparent in his activities as an art collector as in every other aspect of his life. Indeed, walking around this display of 400-odd artefacts prior to their sale in three auctions at Sotheby’s on November 10 and 11, you encounter elements of diversity that illuminate aspects of Bowie you already know about, and others that seem to come out of nowhere, and which leave you, initially at least, scratching your head.

The first thing you encounter is Bowie’s wonderful retro-futurist Italian record player from 1965 (virtually the only thing here that has anything to do with music), surrounded by an intriguing array of top- quality modern paintings: one of Patrick Caulfield’s cool quasi-pop interiors, a Damien Hirst swirl painting (created with Bowie’s involvement) and the most expensive work in the sale, Air Power by