1962
See also : Warhol USA by Warhol Celebrities by Warhol Rothko 1957-70 Twombly Bacon Bacon < 1963 Picasso in Mougins Groups Cities Animals Cars Cars of the 1960s Cars 1962-64 Italy Ferrari LWB to GTO
1962 WARHOL
Intro
1962 is the year of the first exhibitions dedicated to Warhol in Los Angeles and New York. Suddenly, from nowhere, appeared the seminal Warholian themes of contemporary art: the Campbell's soup, Marilyn, the dollar.
Warhol's contribution is to introduce in art such popular images that are instantly recognizable by everyone, and yet are paintings. Doing it he actually created current art, or still better the art of the current world.
He operated at all scales the fruitful idea of multiples, for which he is helped by the silkscreen printing technique in two complementary ways: separate similar works with variations of colors, and juxtaposition of identical patterns on the same work.
Warhol's contribution is to introduce in art such popular images that are instantly recognizable by everyone, and yet are paintings. Doing it he actually created current art, or still better the art of the current world.
He operated at all scales the fruitful idea of multiples, for which he is helped by the silkscreen printing technique in two complementary ways: separate similar works with variations of colors, and juxtaposition of identical patterns on the same work.
1
Men in her Life
2010 SOLD for $ 63M by Phillips de Pury
The artistic language explored by Andy Warhol in 1962 is absolutely new. Objects from the mass consumption have their place in art in the form of series because they constitute an imaginary world understandable by everybody, and too bad if it is trivial. When he appreciates the advantage of screen printing to flood the art world with his pictures, he multiplies the dollars, more precisely the images of banknotes.
The world is fake and the celebrities are ephemeral. Warhol multiplies the Marilyns after the death of the actress as if she were a new Madonna. It is not enough for him. He will attack both the artificial life of the stars and the lies of photographs and newspapers.
Precisely, an article published by Life on April 13, 1962 summarizes the pathetic trajectory of the top movie star of the moment, Liz Taylor. After two divorces, she had been the widow of Mike Todd and it is clear that her fourth marriage, with Eddie Fisher, will not last. One of the photos cut from Life had been taken at the Epsom Derby in 1957. It shows two married couples whose destinies will soon collapse, Todd and Taylor and Fisher with Debbie Reynolds.
Made in the fall of 1962, Men in her Life is a black and white silkscreen on canvas 215 x 212 cm based on that happy image which is copied 38 times in seven rows. The artist varied the contrasts, from saturated to clear. A classic reading from left to right and from top to bottom transforms this unique theme into an agonizing narration, with a gradual deterioration in the quality of the image and in its cropping and with the jagged appearance of the right edge.
The variety of contrasts and framings opens the way for the Elvis Ferus-type of the following year. The title makes the actress appear as a man-eater, anticipating the morbid atmosphere of Death and Disaster and especially the mosaics of images of Car Crash, also from 1963. Again in 1963 the seriously ill Liz will succeed Marilyn in Warhol's pantheon.
Men in her Life was sold for $ 63M including premium by Phillips de Pury on November 8, 2010, lot 15. The low definition image is shared by Wikipedia for fair use.
The world is fake and the celebrities are ephemeral. Warhol multiplies the Marilyns after the death of the actress as if she were a new Madonna. It is not enough for him. He will attack both the artificial life of the stars and the lies of photographs and newspapers.
Precisely, an article published by Life on April 13, 1962 summarizes the pathetic trajectory of the top movie star of the moment, Liz Taylor. After two divorces, she had been the widow of Mike Todd and it is clear that her fourth marriage, with Eddie Fisher, will not last. One of the photos cut from Life had been taken at the Epsom Derby in 1957. It shows two married couples whose destinies will soon collapse, Todd and Taylor and Fisher with Debbie Reynolds.
Made in the fall of 1962, Men in her Life is a black and white silkscreen on canvas 215 x 212 cm based on that happy image which is copied 38 times in seven rows. The artist varied the contrasts, from saturated to clear. A classic reading from left to right and from top to bottom transforms this unique theme into an agonizing narration, with a gradual deterioration in the quality of the image and in its cropping and with the jagged appearance of the right edge.
The variety of contrasts and framings opens the way for the Elvis Ferus-type of the following year. The title makes the actress appear as a man-eater, anticipating the morbid atmosphere of Death and Disaster and especially the mosaics of images of Car Crash, also from 1963. Again in 1963 the seriously ill Liz will succeed Marilyn in Warhol's pantheon.
Men in her Life was sold for $ 63M including premium by Phillips de Pury on November 8, 2010, lot 15. The low definition image is shared by Wikipedia for fair use.
2
Coca-Cola
2012 SOLD for $ 57M by Christie's
1962 is the wonderful year of Andy Warhol, when he suddenly deploys all his artistic and social language. The bottle of Coca-Cola has a key role which he clearly explained.
For Warhol, this bottle in a single model with no variant is the common point between all Americans without any social distinction. The US President, Liz Taylor and the observer of the art of Warhol see and use this object in the same way. It is a symbol of equality. At the same time, Warhol is also studying the soup cans which he stages in incredible positions with dimensions similar to those of humans.
Equality is socially too important for joking, and the bottle of Coca-Cola, even when oversized, remains standing with the utmost seriousness. For this reason, variations are not appropriate and this bottle is the rarest among the great iconic symbols of the first year of Warhol.
The early Coca-Colas by Warhol are made singly by hand in black, without recourse to the silkscreen. Coca-Cola (4), acrylic on canvas 208 x 144 cm, was sold for $ 35.3 million including premium by Sotheby's on November 9, 2010.
The idea of multiples is already another key of the world of Warhol. Coca-Cola (3), casein on cotton 176 x 137 cm, has exactly the same figure as (4). Coca-Cola (3) is estimated $ 40M, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 12. This artwork is illustrated in the article shared by Bloomberg.
POST SALE COMMENT
This specimen number 3 of the most iconic series of Pop Art was sold for $ 57M including premium.
For Warhol, this bottle in a single model with no variant is the common point between all Americans without any social distinction. The US President, Liz Taylor and the observer of the art of Warhol see and use this object in the same way. It is a symbol of equality. At the same time, Warhol is also studying the soup cans which he stages in incredible positions with dimensions similar to those of humans.
Equality is socially too important for joking, and the bottle of Coca-Cola, even when oversized, remains standing with the utmost seriousness. For this reason, variations are not appropriate and this bottle is the rarest among the great iconic symbols of the first year of Warhol.
The early Coca-Colas by Warhol are made singly by hand in black, without recourse to the silkscreen. Coca-Cola (4), acrylic on canvas 208 x 144 cm, was sold for $ 35.3 million including premium by Sotheby's on November 9, 2010.
The idea of multiples is already another key of the world of Warhol. Coca-Cola (3), casein on cotton 176 x 137 cm, has exactly the same figure as (4). Coca-Cola (3) is estimated $ 40M, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 12. This artwork is illustrated in the article shared by Bloomberg.
POST SALE COMMENT
This specimen number 3 of the most iconic series of Pop Art was sold for $ 57M including premium.
3
Nine Marilyns
2021 SOLD for $ 47M by Sotheby's
After his first solo exhibition in July 1962 in Los Angeles, Andy Warhol, a former advertising illustrator turned artist and the painter of Coca Cola bottles and Campbell's cans, manages to develop a quick and repeatable technique to produce paintings : silkscreen printing over a painted surface. With such a process, he will make multiple images either dispositioned side by side on the same canvas or featured in different colors on separated canvas.
He makes his first trials with photographs of teen stars, Natalie Wood, Troy Donahue and Warren Beatty. The sudden death of Marilyn Monroe on August 5 is a major shock to the American dream. Magazines explore frantically the last periods of her life.just at that time. Warhol appreciates that the image of the actress was a perfect theme for the development of his themes beyond cats and soup cans.
Marilyn was dazzling. Andy chooses a film still made in 1952 to exalt his new posthumous muse. He copies the same image four times, in two columns and two rows, for a total size that now would seem small, 73 x 55 cm. In addition to the nice smile, the yellow hair before the orange background is expressing that death should not take its toll on the actress.
The Quadruple Marilyn 74 x 55 cm overall that sold for $ 38M at Phillips on May 16, 2013 can be described as a prototype with two applications of screen printing, one above and one below the acrylic layer, in order to improve the contrast of the image.
The early trials do not meet the productivity required by Warhol. The series of twelve single Marilyn 51 x 41 cm are made with a single screen printing over acrylic paints of various colors. Two of these paintings are monochromatic. The White Marilyn was sold for $ 41M by Christie's on May 13, 2014. They are altogether the precursors of the global imaging desired by Warhol.
This series of twelve is contemporary with the Gold Marilyn currently at the MoMA, where the single silkscreen portrait surrounded by a halo occupies the center of a monumental canvas 211 x 145 cm.
That fabulous Gold Marilyn confirms that Warhol chose the theme of Marilyn through a mystical impulse and not by worldliness or desire to shock. A deep believer, he will come much later to religious iconography, preferring to show a preaching Christ rather than dying on the cross. His choice of an early picture of a Marilyn resplendent before the tragic events of her life matches the same idea.
Some diversity can be reached while using indefinitely the same image, through the format, the multiplicity, the background, the contrast and the margins. The Nine Marilyns painted in 1962 by Andy Warhol has it all.
The vertical canvas 207 x 86 cm is centered without side margins by a block of nine black and white silkscreen images in three rows and three columns. The upper and lower margins highlight the luminous silver color of the whole background, which is an early direct reference by Andy to the cinema screen. The images are voluntarily more or less faded in a simulation of the wearing of the celluloid, a metaphor of Marilyn's vanishing after her death.
A multiple Natalie Wood made of many overlapping examples from a single image on a white background is a precursor. This canvas 210 x 160 cm painted in 1962 was sold for $ 2.76M by Sotheby's on May 18, 2000, lot 31.
Nine Marilyns was sold for $ 47M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 19.
He makes his first trials with photographs of teen stars, Natalie Wood, Troy Donahue and Warren Beatty. The sudden death of Marilyn Monroe on August 5 is a major shock to the American dream. Magazines explore frantically the last periods of her life.just at that time. Warhol appreciates that the image of the actress was a perfect theme for the development of his themes beyond cats and soup cans.
Marilyn was dazzling. Andy chooses a film still made in 1952 to exalt his new posthumous muse. He copies the same image four times, in two columns and two rows, for a total size that now would seem small, 73 x 55 cm. In addition to the nice smile, the yellow hair before the orange background is expressing that death should not take its toll on the actress.
The Quadruple Marilyn 74 x 55 cm overall that sold for $ 38M at Phillips on May 16, 2013 can be described as a prototype with two applications of screen printing, one above and one below the acrylic layer, in order to improve the contrast of the image.
The early trials do not meet the productivity required by Warhol. The series of twelve single Marilyn 51 x 41 cm are made with a single screen printing over acrylic paints of various colors. Two of these paintings are monochromatic. The White Marilyn was sold for $ 41M by Christie's on May 13, 2014. They are altogether the precursors of the global imaging desired by Warhol.
This series of twelve is contemporary with the Gold Marilyn currently at the MoMA, where the single silkscreen portrait surrounded by a halo occupies the center of a monumental canvas 211 x 145 cm.
That fabulous Gold Marilyn confirms that Warhol chose the theme of Marilyn through a mystical impulse and not by worldliness or desire to shock. A deep believer, he will come much later to religious iconography, preferring to show a preaching Christ rather than dying on the cross. His choice of an early picture of a Marilyn resplendent before the tragic events of her life matches the same idea.
Some diversity can be reached while using indefinitely the same image, through the format, the multiplicity, the background, the contrast and the margins. The Nine Marilyns painted in 1962 by Andy Warhol has it all.
The vertical canvas 207 x 86 cm is centered without side margins by a block of nine black and white silkscreen images in three rows and three columns. The upper and lower margins highlight the luminous silver color of the whole background, which is an early direct reference by Andy to the cinema screen. The images are voluntarily more or less faded in a simulation of the wearing of the celluloid, a metaphor of Marilyn's vanishing after her death.
A multiple Natalie Wood made of many overlapping examples from a single image on a white background is a precursor. This canvas 210 x 160 cm painted in 1962 was sold for $ 2.76M by Sotheby's on May 18, 2000, lot 31.
Nine Marilyns was sold for $ 47M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 19.
4
March-April 1962 One Dollar Bills
2009 SOLD for $ 43.7M by Sotheby's
What is more repetitive in everyday life than a banknote? At least, everyone wants it so. What could more easily attract the attention of an American middleman than his $ 1 ticket?
There is no doubt that Andy Warhol loved dollars, not just to fill his pockets but mainly as an undeniable symbol of modern America. He was also busy to create his own legend. Stories about his inspiration on this theme are certainly apocryphal.
On July 1, 2015, Sotheby's listed a wide selection of dollar paintings made by Warhol throughout his career, at first in the form of images of bills and later by more or less fanciful representations of the sign.
In early 1962 One Dollar Bill (silver certificate) is the gigantic cut down image of the front side of a one dollar bill. This casein and pencil on linen, 132 x 182 cm, was the first artwork made by Warhol on this theme and his only dollar painted entirely by hand. It is also contemporary with the series painted by hand of the variations on the soup cans. One Dollar Bill was sold for £ 21M, lot 24.
March - April 1962 is Warhol's breakthrough phase. He then operates at all scales the fruitful idea of multiples, for which he is helped by the silkscreen printing technique in two complementary ways : separation of similar works with variations of colors, and juxtaposition of identical patterns on the same work.
The monumental 200 One Dollar Bills, 203 x 234 cm, showing 200 front sides in twenty rows of ten notes each without interval was sold for $ 43.7M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2009. The image, unspectacular on the web, is shared by AuctionPublicity.
There is no doubt that Andy Warhol loved dollars, not just to fill his pockets but mainly as an undeniable symbol of modern America. He was also busy to create his own legend. Stories about his inspiration on this theme are certainly apocryphal.
On July 1, 2015, Sotheby's listed a wide selection of dollar paintings made by Warhol throughout his career, at first in the form of images of bills and later by more or less fanciful representations of the sign.
In early 1962 One Dollar Bill (silver certificate) is the gigantic cut down image of the front side of a one dollar bill. This casein and pencil on linen, 132 x 182 cm, was the first artwork made by Warhol on this theme and his only dollar painted entirely by hand. It is also contemporary with the series painted by hand of the variations on the soup cans. One Dollar Bill was sold for £ 21M, lot 24.
March - April 1962 is Warhol's breakthrough phase. He then operates at all scales the fruitful idea of multiples, for which he is helped by the silkscreen printing technique in two complementary ways : separation of similar works with variations of colors, and juxtaposition of identical patterns on the same work.
The monumental 200 One Dollar Bills, 203 x 234 cm, showing 200 front sides in twenty rows of ten notes each without interval was sold for $ 43.7M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2009. The image, unspectacular on the web, is shared by AuctionPublicity.
5
Statue of Liberty
2012 SOLD for $ 43.7M by Christie's
For Warhol, in 1962, all experiences, all messages are possible. His artistic language is entirely new.
The use of silkscreen ink applied to the enlargement of a trivial photograph is the decisive creative invention of Warhol. It allows the endless repetition of the same image, with a speed of execution that quickly diversifies the catalog of the artist. It is not to be considered as a print due to the variants from a completed artwork to another and also because of the finish with spray enamel and graphite.
But what does exactly want this former designer of ads? Present to the world a publicity for America, or deride its consumer society? Exalt the hope of a sheltered life, or exacerbate the futility of politics?
If there were only stars and soup cans, Warhol's message is simple. Disasters, electric chairs, car crashes put everything into question. Executed in 1962, Warhol's Statue of Liberty anticipates all the social gnashing of his art. In our world, everything is false.
The symbol is present, as in reality, off Manhattan. Warhol well knows that the multiplicity of images kills emotion. Thanks to his screen printing technique, he kills the hope of Liberty by aligning 4 rows of 6 identical images.
Warhol knows that painting is an illusory representation of the three-dimensional reality of the world. Each of the 24 units of Miss Liberty is treated in green and red like an anaglyph, but the two views are from one single postcard. The viewer with his stereoscopic glasses marvels at a false illusion of 3D due to inequality of the finish.
This canvas 198 x 206 cm is for sale by Christie's on November 14 in New York. The logics would be that it is acknowledged as one of the key works of Warhol, in excess of $ 35M. The auction house has not published an estimate. Here is the link to the catalog.
I invite you to play the video featured by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This surprising artwork provides a final denial to whoever thinks that the art, personality and ambition of Warhol are simple to decode. This Statue of Liberty is one of the masterpieces of the first great year of the artist, as well as the 200 One Dollar Bills, sold exactly for the same price at Sotheby's in 2009: $ 43.7 million including premium.
The use of silkscreen ink applied to the enlargement of a trivial photograph is the decisive creative invention of Warhol. It allows the endless repetition of the same image, with a speed of execution that quickly diversifies the catalog of the artist. It is not to be considered as a print due to the variants from a completed artwork to another and also because of the finish with spray enamel and graphite.
But what does exactly want this former designer of ads? Present to the world a publicity for America, or deride its consumer society? Exalt the hope of a sheltered life, or exacerbate the futility of politics?
If there were only stars and soup cans, Warhol's message is simple. Disasters, electric chairs, car crashes put everything into question. Executed in 1962, Warhol's Statue of Liberty anticipates all the social gnashing of his art. In our world, everything is false.
The symbol is present, as in reality, off Manhattan. Warhol well knows that the multiplicity of images kills emotion. Thanks to his screen printing technique, he kills the hope of Liberty by aligning 4 rows of 6 identical images.
Warhol knows that painting is an illusory representation of the three-dimensional reality of the world. Each of the 24 units of Miss Liberty is treated in green and red like an anaglyph, but the two views are from one single postcard. The viewer with his stereoscopic glasses marvels at a false illusion of 3D due to inequality of the finish.
This canvas 198 x 206 cm is for sale by Christie's on November 14 in New York. The logics would be that it is acknowledged as one of the key works of Warhol, in excess of $ 35M. The auction house has not published an estimate. Here is the link to the catalog.
I invite you to play the video featured by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This surprising artwork provides a final denial to whoever thinks that the art, personality and ambition of Warhol are simple to decode. This Statue of Liberty is one of the masterpieces of the first great year of the artist, as well as the 200 One Dollar Bills, sold exactly for the same price at Sotheby's in 2009: $ 43.7 million including premium.
1962 Newlywed and Hound
2019 SOLD for $ 55M including premium
Picasso changes his life. In March 1961 he marries Jacqueline, his muse since 1954. Pablo is 80 years old, she is 35. In June the newlyweds leave Cannes to settle in Mougins.
In their vast Provençal mas, they manage to have an ordinary life. Both love dogs. The dachshund Lump has been rejoined since 1960 by an Afghan hound named Kaboul who becomes Jacqueline's favorite. Pablo executes no less than six oil paintings on the theme of Jacqueline and her kind dog.
On May 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells Femme au chien, oil on canvas 162 x 130 cm painted in 1962, lot 33 estimated $ 25M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The woman is seated. Kaboul stands on his four high legs. These two characters are in a static attitude. The position of Jacqueline's hands displays a quiet closeness.
Curiously their graphic processing is different. Kaboul is almost realistic, except that his haggard eyes and slight smile are not indeed marks of intelligence. The woman's face is unstructured in four angles of view. The left eye and the mouth are inserted in two opposite profiles. The right eye is seen from full front and the portrait is completed on the right side by the profile of an abundant ponytail.
In their vast Provençal mas, they manage to have an ordinary life. Both love dogs. The dachshund Lump has been rejoined since 1960 by an Afghan hound named Kaboul who becomes Jacqueline's favorite. Pablo executes no less than six oil paintings on the theme of Jacqueline and her kind dog.
On May 14 in New York, Sotheby's sells Femme au chien, oil on canvas 162 x 130 cm painted in 1962, lot 33 estimated $ 25M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The woman is seated. Kaboul stands on his four high legs. These two characters are in a static attitude. The position of Jacqueline's hands displays a quiet closeness.
Curiously their graphic processing is different. Kaboul is almost realistic, except that his haggard eyes and slight smile are not indeed marks of intelligence. The woman's face is unstructured in four angles of view. The left eye and the mouth are inserted in two opposite profiles. The right eye is seen from full front and the portrait is completed on the right side by the profile of an abundant ponytail.
1962 A Mythical Frenzy
2017 SOLD for $ 53M including premium
Cy Twombly visits Italy for the second time in 1957. He perceives that Rome is still retaining the traces of the carnal violence of its mythology and of its antique history, in its monuments and their graffiti but also in the tradition transmitted through all these centuries by poets and artists.
He then went to live semi-permanently in Rome where he developed his new style which simultaneously exacerbated all the passions : erotic, pornographic, criminal, scatological. He tries to feel by himself all these impulses in a semi-automatic creative act for which he paints directly with his hands and adds his own graffiti.
The rape of Leda by Jupiter in the form of a swan is for him a complete theme, with his sexual act that generates a mythical fecundity.
In 1962 Twombly executed two Leda and the Swan in the same format 191 x 200 cm certainly chosen to give an idea of the life size representation of this scuffle in an abstraction mixing the illusion of bodies and feathers. One of them is exhibited in the Museum Of Modern Art in New York. The other is estimated $ 35M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 17, lot 6 B.
The comparison between both works is significant. Their similar explosion demonstrates that the artist's scripture, although based on an impulsive gesture, responds to a pre-defined global conception. The MoMA's Leda is more complete because it includes the usual graffiti missing in the version offered at auction. In both cases in the upper part of the image the small drawing of a modern window appears, symbolizing the artist's message about the timeless character of the passions.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
He then went to live semi-permanently in Rome where he developed his new style which simultaneously exacerbated all the passions : erotic, pornographic, criminal, scatological. He tries to feel by himself all these impulses in a semi-automatic creative act for which he paints directly with his hands and adds his own graffiti.
The rape of Leda by Jupiter in the form of a swan is for him a complete theme, with his sexual act that generates a mythical fecundity.
In 1962 Twombly executed two Leda and the Swan in the same format 191 x 200 cm certainly chosen to give an idea of the life size representation of this scuffle in an abstraction mixing the illusion of bodies and feathers. One of them is exhibited in the Museum Of Modern Art in New York. The other is estimated $ 35M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 17, lot 6 B.
The comparison between both works is significant. Their similar explosion demonstrates that the artist's scripture, although based on an impulsive gesture, responds to a pre-defined global conception. The MoMA's Leda is more complete because it includes the usual graffiti missing in the version offered at auction. In both cases in the upper part of the image the small drawing of a modern window appears, symbolizing the artist's message about the timeless character of the passions.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
1962 Study from Innocent X by Bacon
2007 SOLD for $ 53M including premium by Sotheby's
Criticism of religion is an inspiration for Francis Bacon. In 1944 he mixed Christianity with the horrors of war in Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, which he considered as his first completed work. This image assured him a scandalous success. To feed art rather than controversy, he then opted for a socially less destructive amalgam between the Portrait of Pope Innocent X by Velazquez and the scream from Eisenstein's Potemkin.
During the 1950s Francis retains from Innocent X the psychosis of a human being who has been given a preeminent role far beyond his abilities. His screaming Popes from that time, in bust or half-length on a dark background, are irremediably locked on their thrones.
Around 1960 his desires change. It is the good life in Soho. He interprets the ugliness of his friends through the photos by John Deakin. His Popes are becoming rarer.
Francis only knew Velazquez's Innocent X from chromos, but he appreciates that the color palette contributes greatly to the psychological effect. Seated Figure, oil on canvas 153 x 119 cm painted in 1960, is more directly inspired by Velazquez for the petrified position of the character and for its new dominant red. It was sold for $ 45M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2014.
An oil on canvas 198 x 142 cm painted in 1962 is even more explicit. The title, Study from Innocent X, even lost the ambiguity that Francis loved so much. The composition is enlarged compared to Velazquez and to Seated Figure, staging the whole scene in an empty room. The curled-up man is locked with his seat in the filiform cage that Francis used to display humans to monkeys.
Study from Innocent X was sold for $ 53M including premium by Sotheby's on May 15, 2007, lot 22.
During the 1950s Francis retains from Innocent X the psychosis of a human being who has been given a preeminent role far beyond his abilities. His screaming Popes from that time, in bust or half-length on a dark background, are irremediably locked on their thrones.
Around 1960 his desires change. It is the good life in Soho. He interprets the ugliness of his friends through the photos by John Deakin. His Popes are becoming rarer.
Francis only knew Velazquez's Innocent X from chromos, but he appreciates that the color palette contributes greatly to the psychological effect. Seated Figure, oil on canvas 153 x 119 cm painted in 1960, is more directly inspired by Velazquez for the petrified position of the character and for its new dominant red. It was sold for $ 45M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2014.
An oil on canvas 198 x 142 cm painted in 1962 is even more explicit. The title, Study from Innocent X, even lost the ambiguity that Francis loved so much. The composition is enlarged compared to Velazquez and to Seated Figure, staging the whole scene in an empty room. The curled-up man is locked with his seat in the filiform cage that Francis used to display humans to monkeys.
Study from Innocent X was sold for $ 53M including premium by Sotheby's on May 15, 2007, lot 22.
1962 No. 1 by Rothko
2022 SOLD for $ 50M by Christie's
In 1961 Mark Rothko tries his mind in the expressive radiance of rare hues of red and of adjacent colors in vertical arrangements of his signature rectangles, in a renewed approach to the mesmerizing illusion of space.
That comes of course in the follow of his 1954 admiration for Matisse's L'Atelier Rouge, but an influence from Monet's abstract trends in his later works may also be considered just after the great 1960 Monet exhibition at the MoMA.
The dimensions of his canvases have increased and are standardized. The rectangles occupy almost all the available surface, over a negligible neutral background. Most significantly, the preferred color of the artist is now the most vibrant of them : red.
1962 No. 1, oil on canvas 175 x 152 cm, was sold for $ 50M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 5C. It had been used as a pendant by Mrs Bass with the 1961 Untitled (Shades of Red) of same height and similar width, sold for $ 67M in the same sale, lot 4C.
Listed as the first painting executed by the artist in that year, this iridescent artwork features a tall nearly square central field of intense orange surrounded by narrow bands of deeper saturated red and orange.
These colors fighting for dominance and waning to the serene pale ground at the edges of the fields may be considered as a fair demonstrator of the artist's lifelong influence from Nietzsche's dramatic human duality between force and chaos.
That comes of course in the follow of his 1954 admiration for Matisse's L'Atelier Rouge, but an influence from Monet's abstract trends in his later works may also be considered just after the great 1960 Monet exhibition at the MoMA.
The dimensions of his canvases have increased and are standardized. The rectangles occupy almost all the available surface, over a negligible neutral background. Most significantly, the preferred color of the artist is now the most vibrant of them : red.
1962 No. 1, oil on canvas 175 x 152 cm, was sold for $ 50M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 5C. It had been used as a pendant by Mrs Bass with the 1961 Untitled (Shades of Red) of same height and similar width, sold for $ 67M in the same sale, lot 4C.
Listed as the first painting executed by the artist in that year, this iridescent artwork features a tall nearly square central field of intense orange surrounded by narrow bands of deeper saturated red and orange.
These colors fighting for dominance and waning to the serene pale ground at the edges of the fields may be considered as a fair demonstrator of the artist's lifelong influence from Nietzsche's dramatic human duality between force and chaos.
1962 The Two Series of the 250 GTO
2018 SOLD for $ 48M including premium
It is not enough to be the prettiest berlinetta of its time to win Grand Touring competitions, especially when Jaguar, Aston Martin and Shelby apply ambitious development programs. The Ferrari250 GT SWB is no longer competitive with its oblique front that lifts at 250 km/h.
A team around Giotto Bizzarrini designs a low body with a tapered front hood. To facilitate the homologation, the new chassis has the same size as the SWB. The studies are validated in wind tunnel. The lowered engine remains a 3-liter Colombo V12 while incorporating several improvements from the 250 TR.
Thus was born the 250 GTO at the beginning of 1962. 33 cars are built according to this model. They immediately dominate endurance and hill competitions. However Bizzarrini had left the company after a disagreement with Enzo Ferrari.
The technological challenge goes on. The approval of the 250 LM will be refused. While waiting for better days, Ferrari requires Mauro Forghieri and his team to modify the 250 GTO according to the aerodynamic improvement of the LM. Three 250 GTO Series II are built in 1964.
Four Series I cars are upgraded in 1964 to the Series II specifications. One of them is estimated $ 45M for sale by RM Sotheby's in Monterey on August 25, lot 247. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
This car was in 1962 the third GTO produced. Tested in May by Phil Hill at the Targa Florio, it is sold by Ferrari a few days later to a friend of Enzo Ferrari, Edoardo Lualdi-Gabardi, who gets excellent results in hill climbing with this car. In April 1964 Corrado Ferlaino leads it to First In Class in the Targa Florio, thus brilliantly validating the transitory concept of the Series II.
The price of a Ferrari 250 GTO depends on its results in period and on its crash history. The car for sale was not damaged. For reasons of preservation, the original engine was removed a few years ago. It is sold with the car.
In May 2018 a price of $ 70M in a private transaction was reported for a 250 GTO with a better race history including the victory at the 1964 Tour de France.
A team around Giotto Bizzarrini designs a low body with a tapered front hood. To facilitate the homologation, the new chassis has the same size as the SWB. The studies are validated in wind tunnel. The lowered engine remains a 3-liter Colombo V12 while incorporating several improvements from the 250 TR.
Thus was born the 250 GTO at the beginning of 1962. 33 cars are built according to this model. They immediately dominate endurance and hill competitions. However Bizzarrini had left the company after a disagreement with Enzo Ferrari.
The technological challenge goes on. The approval of the 250 LM will be refused. While waiting for better days, Ferrari requires Mauro Forghieri and his team to modify the 250 GTO according to the aerodynamic improvement of the LM. Three 250 GTO Series II are built in 1964.
Four Series I cars are upgraded in 1964 to the Series II specifications. One of them is estimated $ 45M for sale by RM Sotheby's in Monterey on August 25, lot 247. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
This car was in 1962 the third GTO produced. Tested in May by Phil Hill at the Targa Florio, it is sold by Ferrari a few days later to a friend of Enzo Ferrari, Edoardo Lualdi-Gabardi, who gets excellent results in hill climbing with this car. In April 1964 Corrado Ferlaino leads it to First In Class in the Targa Florio, thus brilliantly validating the transitory concept of the Series II.
The price of a Ferrari 250 GTO depends on its results in period and on its crash history. The car for sale was not damaged. For reasons of preservation, the original engine was removed a few years ago. It is sold with the car.
In May 2018 a price of $ 70M in a private transaction was reported for a 250 GTO with a better race history including the victory at the 1964 Tour de France.
