1999
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Ruscha Jewels Pink diamond Blue diamond
See also : Ruscha Jewels Pink diamond Blue diamond
1999 The Pink Star by De Beers
2013 hammered at CHF 76M including premium by Sotheby's, UNPAID
2017 SOLD for HK$ 550M by Sotheby's
The Pink Star is unquestionably and by far the greatest polished diamond that ever hit the auction market. It should have fetched CHF 76M including premium at Sotheby's on November 13, 2013 but that sale was cancelled for buyer payment deficiency.
It had been expected beyond US $ 60M, a conservative estimate when we consider that it is "only" US$ 1M per carat, but nevertheless ambitious because no other diamond has ever reached such a price at auction.
Its come back was eagerly awaited by all the fans of highest jewelry and of auction history. It was sold for HK $ 550M by Sotheby's on April 4, 2017, lot 1801. Its expected value has been kept unchanged before from the 2013 auction.
Its subtle color, Fancy Vivid Pink, is the best graded among diamond colors. Internally Flawless means a perfect clarity. Its weight, 59.60 carats, is the highest recorded for finished flawless diamonds of that color. The fancy vivid pink weighing more than 10 carats are extremely rare.Its oval shape and its polish are the perfect result of two years of work executed by Steinmetz Diamonds.
It comes from a rough gem of 142.5 carats unearthed in 1999 by De Beers somewhere in Africa, which is currently the best location for new fabulous diamonds. Its mixed cut had required more than 50 subsequent models from epoxy casts. It was unveiled to the public in 2003.
Please watch the videos shared by Sotheby's : the 2013 pre sale video and the short video introducing the 2017 auction.
Detailed Analysis of the Pink Star Sale – The Pinnacle of Fancy Vivid Pink Diamond Records
The Pink Star (also known as the Steinmetz Pink and briefly the Pink Dream) represents the zenith of the 21st-century colored diamond boom, holding the world auction record for any diamond or jewel as of March 2026. This 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut Fancy Vivid Pink, Internally Flawless diamond, graded by the GIA as the largest such specimen ever certified, sold for HK$ 553M (~US$71.2M including buyer's premium) at Sotheby's Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite auction on April 4, 2017 (lot 1801). The sale shattered multiple benchmarks: highest price for any gem/jewel at auction, highest for any lot sold in Asia, and more than double the prior Fancy Vivid Pink record.
Provenance and Cutting History
Mined by De Beers in South Africa in 1999 from a 132.50-carat rough, the stone was entrusted to Steinmetz Diamonds (a specialist in exceptional colored diamonds). Over nearly two years, the rough was meticulously modeled (cast in epoxy >50 times for cut optimization) and polished into the 59.60-carat oval, unveiled publicly in 2003 as the Steinmetz Pink. Privately sold in 2007 and renamed the Pink Star, it embodied extreme rarity: Fancy Vivid Pink saturation in a stone this size is virtually unprecedented, with large vivid pinks (>10ct) exceedingly rare due to geological formation constraints (trace boron/nitrogen anomalies in Type IIa diamonds).
Auction Journey: The 2013 Failed Sale
First offered publicly at Sotheby's Geneva Magnificent Jewels on November 13, 2013, it achieved a hammer of CHF 68M (total CHF 76.325M / ~US$83.2M including premium), surpassing the Graff Pink's US$46.2M (2010) as the most expensive gem ever. Buyer Isaac Wolf (New York diamond cutter) renamed it the Pink Dream but defaulted on payment. Sotheby's reclaimed the stone under guarantee terms, voiding the sale and reconsigning it.
The Transformative 2017 Success
Reoffered at Sotheby's Hong Kong with a pre-sale estimate of US$60M (unchanged from 2013 expectations), the diamond drew intense interest amid surging Asian demand for vivid coloreds. Bidding lasted ~5 minutes in a three-way contest (primarily telephone bidders). Chairman Henry Cheng Kar-Shun of Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (Hong Kong-based luxury jeweler) secured it via phone bid. Hammer price reached ~HK$500M+, with premium pushing the total to HK$ 553M (US$71.2M). Chow Tai Fook renamed it the CTF Pink Star in honor of founder Chow Tai Fook (commemorating the company's 88th anniversary) and has held it in their private collection since—no resale, public exhibitions, or major updates reported through 2026.
Market Context and Significance
It had been expected beyond US $ 60M, a conservative estimate when we consider that it is "only" US$ 1M per carat, but nevertheless ambitious because no other diamond has ever reached such a price at auction.
Its come back was eagerly awaited by all the fans of highest jewelry and of auction history. It was sold for HK $ 550M by Sotheby's on April 4, 2017, lot 1801. Its expected value has been kept unchanged before from the 2013 auction.
Its subtle color, Fancy Vivid Pink, is the best graded among diamond colors. Internally Flawless means a perfect clarity. Its weight, 59.60 carats, is the highest recorded for finished flawless diamonds of that color. The fancy vivid pink weighing more than 10 carats are extremely rare.Its oval shape and its polish are the perfect result of two years of work executed by Steinmetz Diamonds.
It comes from a rough gem of 142.5 carats unearthed in 1999 by De Beers somewhere in Africa, which is currently the best location for new fabulous diamonds. Its mixed cut had required more than 50 subsequent models from epoxy casts. It was unveiled to the public in 2003.
Please watch the videos shared by Sotheby's : the 2013 pre sale video and the short video introducing the 2017 auction.
Detailed Analysis of the Pink Star Sale – The Pinnacle of Fancy Vivid Pink Diamond Records
The Pink Star (also known as the Steinmetz Pink and briefly the Pink Dream) represents the zenith of the 21st-century colored diamond boom, holding the world auction record for any diamond or jewel as of March 2026. This 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut Fancy Vivid Pink, Internally Flawless diamond, graded by the GIA as the largest such specimen ever certified, sold for HK$ 553M (~US$71.2M including buyer's premium) at Sotheby's Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite auction on April 4, 2017 (lot 1801). The sale shattered multiple benchmarks: highest price for any gem/jewel at auction, highest for any lot sold in Asia, and more than double the prior Fancy Vivid Pink record.
Provenance and Cutting History
Mined by De Beers in South Africa in 1999 from a 132.50-carat rough, the stone was entrusted to Steinmetz Diamonds (a specialist in exceptional colored diamonds). Over nearly two years, the rough was meticulously modeled (cast in epoxy >50 times for cut optimization) and polished into the 59.60-carat oval, unveiled publicly in 2003 as the Steinmetz Pink. Privately sold in 2007 and renamed the Pink Star, it embodied extreme rarity: Fancy Vivid Pink saturation in a stone this size is virtually unprecedented, with large vivid pinks (>10ct) exceedingly rare due to geological formation constraints (trace boron/nitrogen anomalies in Type IIa diamonds).
Auction Journey: The 2013 Failed Sale
First offered publicly at Sotheby's Geneva Magnificent Jewels on November 13, 2013, it achieved a hammer of CHF 68M (total CHF 76.325M / ~US$83.2M including premium), surpassing the Graff Pink's US$46.2M (2010) as the most expensive gem ever. Buyer Isaac Wolf (New York diamond cutter) renamed it the Pink Dream but defaulted on payment. Sotheby's reclaimed the stone under guarantee terms, voiding the sale and reconsigning it.
The Transformative 2017 Success
Reoffered at Sotheby's Hong Kong with a pre-sale estimate of US$60M (unchanged from 2013 expectations), the diamond drew intense interest amid surging Asian demand for vivid coloreds. Bidding lasted ~5 minutes in a three-way contest (primarily telephone bidders). Chairman Henry Cheng Kar-Shun of Chow Tai Fook Enterprises (Hong Kong-based luxury jeweler) secured it via phone bid. Hammer price reached ~HK$500M+, with premium pushing the total to HK$ 553M (US$71.2M). Chow Tai Fook renamed it the CTF Pink Star in honor of founder Chow Tai Fook (commemorating the company's 88th anniversary) and has held it in their private collection since—no resale, public exhibitions, or major updates reported through 2026.
Market Context and Significance
- Price Breakdown: ~US$1.2M per carat (premium-inclusive), exceptional for size/clarity/color combo; dwarfed prior vivid pink records (e.g., Graff Pink ~US$1.86M/ct at 24.78ct).
- Broader Impact: The sale eclipsed the Oppenheimer Blue's CHF 57M (2016) as top jewel record and validated the post-2010 vivid pink surge (Asian buyers, supply scarcity post-Argyle mine trends). It doubled the Fancy Vivid Pink benchmark and set an Asia auction high, reflecting Hong Kong's rise as a colored diamond hub.
- Comparison to Contemporaries: Outpaced the Pink Legacy (CHF 50M, 2018), Williamson Pink Star (HK$453.2M / US$57.7M, 2022 per-carat record but lower total), and others. No subsequent sale has surpassed its total price.
- Legacy: As the largest Fancy Vivid Pink IF ever graded, it symbolizes the "overwhelming rise" of vivid coloreds over whites/yellows. Its resilience (rebounding from 2013 default) underscores confidence in ultra-rare colored diamonds as investment-grade assets amid market volatility.
Sotheby’s Brings ‘Pink Star’ Diamond to Hong Kong https://t.co/D5Lo7D6NIX pic.twitter.com/yk5ph7cUhn
— Art Market Monitor (@artmarket) March 20, 2017
WATCH: World's most valuable cut diamond, the 59.60-carat "Pink Star," could fetch a record $60 million at auction: https://t.co/JsYfyHq5H8 pic.twitter.com/mLNLyhUhBY
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 20, 2017
1999 Millennium by De Beers
2016 SOLD for HK$ 250M by Sotheby's
De Beers exhibited their finest diamonds at the Millennium Dome in London throughout the year 2000. The Millennium Star is an astonishing white diamond weighing 203.04 carats. Facing it in the cabinet, eleven blue diamonds are totaling 118 carats. All these wonders had been extracted from the Cullinan mine.
One of these blue diamonds was oval cut. Weighing 10.10 carats, it is not the largest of the eleven but it is indeed the most spectacular. It was certified Fancy Vivid Blue Flawless in 1999 by GIA with the designation De Beers Millennium Jewel 4. Mounted on a ring in a surrounding of small white diamonds, it was sold for HK $ 250M by Sotheby's on April 5, 2016, lot 1843.
This unprecedented treasure insured altogether for £ 350M excited high appetites during the show at the Dome. On November 7, 2000, a commando of four equipped with a ten ton earth digger, sledgehammers, smoke bombs, gas masks and bulletproof vests come into the Dome, ready to celebrate the new millennium with the biggest heist ever.
The gang was under surveillance and 200 police officers had been mobilized. The head of the counter operation had decided to let the robbers go up to the showcase window for security reasons because arrests are easier in a closed room.
Please watch the short video shared by Sotheby's.
Origin and Discovery
The De Beers Millennium Jewel 4 is a rare 10.10-carat oval-modified brilliant-cut diamond, graded as Fancy Vivid Blue and Internally Flawless by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Blue diamonds like this one derive their color from trace amounts of boron impurities, and they are exceptionally scarce, comprising much less than 0.1% of all diamonds recovered from the Cullinan Mine (formerly Premier Mine) in South Africa, where most high-quality blue diamonds have been sourced in the last century. While the exact discovery date of the rough stone is not publicly documented, it was mined in South Africa and selected by De Beers for special polishing in the late 1990s. De Beers collaborated with the Steinmetz Diamond Group to cut and polish it into its current form, inscribing it with "De Beers Millennium Jewel 4" using proprietary laser technology.
The De Beers Millennium Jewels Collection
This diamond was one of 11 exceptional blue diamonds (totaling 118 carats) assembled by De Beers to commemorate the new millennium, alongside the centerpiece 203.04-carat colorless Millennium Star. Nine of the blues, including Jewel 4, were graded Fancy Vivid Blue—the highest color intensity rating—while two were Fancy Intense Blue. The collection featured various shapes and sizes, from a 5.16-carat pear-shaped stone to the 27.64-carat Heart of Eternity. It was unveiled as part of the Millennium Jewels exhibition to celebrate the year 2000.
Exhibition at the Millennium Dome (1999–2000)
The diamond was publicly displayed at the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, London, starting on December 31, 1999, and continuing throughout 2000. The exhibition attracted significant attention, showcasing the collection's rarity and value, estimated at over £350 million (equivalent to about £744 million in 2023).
The Millennium Dome Heist Attempt (November 7, 2000)
On November 7, 2000, a gang of experienced criminals attempted to steal the Millennium Jewels in what could have been the largest diamond heist in history. The plot, codenamed Operation Magician by the Metropolitan Police, involved ramming the Dome's perimeter with a JCB digger, using smoke bombs, sledgehammers, nail guns, and ammonia to breach security glass, and escaping via speedboat on the River Thames. The gang, led by Raymond Betson and William Cockram, had invested tens of thousands of pounds in equipment and conducted reconnaissance, including testing speedboats and timing high tides.
Forewarned by a tip-off, police replaced the real diamonds (including Jewel 4) with replicas a day earlier and ambushed the robbers. Over 200 officers, including armed units, were involved; the gang smashed into the exhibit but was arrested on site. Key members included Betson, Cockram, Aldo Ciarrocchi, Robert Adams, Lee Wenham, and Terry Millman (who died before trial). In 2001–2002 trials at the Old Bailey, the main perpetrators were convicted of conspiracy to rob and sentenced to 15–18 years (some reduced on appeal). The heist was foiled without harm, and the originals remained safe.
Post-Exhibition and Private Ownership (2001–2015)
After the exhibition closed, the Millennium Jewels were dispersed into private hands. Jewel 4 entered an Asian private collection, where it remained out of the public eye for over a decade. During this period, only one other diamond from the collection (De Beers Millennium Jewel 11, a 5.16-carat pear-shaped Fancy Vivid Blue) appeared at auction, selling for £4.2 million at Sotheby's Hong Kong in April 2010. Jewel 4 was mentioned in literature, including The Steinmetz Diamond Story (2003).
2016 Auction at Sotheby's Hong Kong
In 2016, the diamond was offered for sale by its Asian private owner at Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite auction in Hong Kong on April 5. Estimated at $30–35 million, it was mounted in an 18-karat white gold ring with flanking pear-shaped and circular-cut colorless diamonds (totaling about 1.80 carats). It sold for HK$248,280,000 (approximately US$31.8 million) to an anonymous telephone bidder, setting records as the most expensive diamond ever sold in Asia, the highest price for any jewel at auction in Asia, and the largest oval Fancy Vivid Blue diamond ever auctioned. The sale reflected booming demand for colored diamonds, with blue diamond values rising over 300% in the prior decade. This occurred amid a string of record-breaking blue diamond sales, including the Blue Moon Diamond ($48.4 million in 2015) and Oppenheimer Blue ($57.5 million in 2016).
Post-2016 Ownership and Legacy
Since the 2016 sale, the diamond has remained in private hands with no public resales, exhibitions, or notable events reported as of January 2026. The buyer remains anonymous, and it has not reappeared on the market. It continues to be referenced in discussions of rare blue diamonds, such as in De Beers' own promotions of similar stones like the De Beers Cullinan Blue in 2022. Its legacy endures as a symbol of rarity—fewer than 0.02% of diamonds exhibit such vivid blue intensity—and its brush with the infamous heist adds to its storied allure.
One of these blue diamonds was oval cut. Weighing 10.10 carats, it is not the largest of the eleven but it is indeed the most spectacular. It was certified Fancy Vivid Blue Flawless in 1999 by GIA with the designation De Beers Millennium Jewel 4. Mounted on a ring in a surrounding of small white diamonds, it was sold for HK $ 250M by Sotheby's on April 5, 2016, lot 1843.
This unprecedented treasure insured altogether for £ 350M excited high appetites during the show at the Dome. On November 7, 2000, a commando of four equipped with a ten ton earth digger, sledgehammers, smoke bombs, gas masks and bulletproof vests come into the Dome, ready to celebrate the new millennium with the biggest heist ever.
The gang was under surveillance and 200 police officers had been mobilized. The head of the counter operation had decided to let the robbers go up to the showcase window for security reasons because arrests are easier in a closed room.
Please watch the short video shared by Sotheby's.
Origin and Discovery
The De Beers Millennium Jewel 4 is a rare 10.10-carat oval-modified brilliant-cut diamond, graded as Fancy Vivid Blue and Internally Flawless by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). Blue diamonds like this one derive their color from trace amounts of boron impurities, and they are exceptionally scarce, comprising much less than 0.1% of all diamonds recovered from the Cullinan Mine (formerly Premier Mine) in South Africa, where most high-quality blue diamonds have been sourced in the last century. While the exact discovery date of the rough stone is not publicly documented, it was mined in South Africa and selected by De Beers for special polishing in the late 1990s. De Beers collaborated with the Steinmetz Diamond Group to cut and polish it into its current form, inscribing it with "De Beers Millennium Jewel 4" using proprietary laser technology.
The De Beers Millennium Jewels Collection
This diamond was one of 11 exceptional blue diamonds (totaling 118 carats) assembled by De Beers to commemorate the new millennium, alongside the centerpiece 203.04-carat colorless Millennium Star. Nine of the blues, including Jewel 4, were graded Fancy Vivid Blue—the highest color intensity rating—while two were Fancy Intense Blue. The collection featured various shapes and sizes, from a 5.16-carat pear-shaped stone to the 27.64-carat Heart of Eternity. It was unveiled as part of the Millennium Jewels exhibition to celebrate the year 2000.
Exhibition at the Millennium Dome (1999–2000)
The diamond was publicly displayed at the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, London, starting on December 31, 1999, and continuing throughout 2000. The exhibition attracted significant attention, showcasing the collection's rarity and value, estimated at over £350 million (equivalent to about £744 million in 2023).
The Millennium Dome Heist Attempt (November 7, 2000)
On November 7, 2000, a gang of experienced criminals attempted to steal the Millennium Jewels in what could have been the largest diamond heist in history. The plot, codenamed Operation Magician by the Metropolitan Police, involved ramming the Dome's perimeter with a JCB digger, using smoke bombs, sledgehammers, nail guns, and ammonia to breach security glass, and escaping via speedboat on the River Thames. The gang, led by Raymond Betson and William Cockram, had invested tens of thousands of pounds in equipment and conducted reconnaissance, including testing speedboats and timing high tides.
Forewarned by a tip-off, police replaced the real diamonds (including Jewel 4) with replicas a day earlier and ambushed the robbers. Over 200 officers, including armed units, were involved; the gang smashed into the exhibit but was arrested on site. Key members included Betson, Cockram, Aldo Ciarrocchi, Robert Adams, Lee Wenham, and Terry Millman (who died before trial). In 2001–2002 trials at the Old Bailey, the main perpetrators were convicted of conspiracy to rob and sentenced to 15–18 years (some reduced on appeal). The heist was foiled without harm, and the originals remained safe.
Post-Exhibition and Private Ownership (2001–2015)
After the exhibition closed, the Millennium Jewels were dispersed into private hands. Jewel 4 entered an Asian private collection, where it remained out of the public eye for over a decade. During this period, only one other diamond from the collection (De Beers Millennium Jewel 11, a 5.16-carat pear-shaped Fancy Vivid Blue) appeared at auction, selling for £4.2 million at Sotheby's Hong Kong in April 2010. Jewel 4 was mentioned in literature, including The Steinmetz Diamond Story (2003).
2016 Auction at Sotheby's Hong Kong
In 2016, the diamond was offered for sale by its Asian private owner at Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite auction in Hong Kong on April 5. Estimated at $30–35 million, it was mounted in an 18-karat white gold ring with flanking pear-shaped and circular-cut colorless diamonds (totaling about 1.80 carats). It sold for HK$248,280,000 (approximately US$31.8 million) to an anonymous telephone bidder, setting records as the most expensive diamond ever sold in Asia, the highest price for any jewel at auction in Asia, and the largest oval Fancy Vivid Blue diamond ever auctioned. The sale reflected booming demand for colored diamonds, with blue diamond values rising over 300% in the prior decade. This occurred amid a string of record-breaking blue diamond sales, including the Blue Moon Diamond ($48.4 million in 2015) and Oppenheimer Blue ($57.5 million in 2016).
Post-2016 Ownership and Legacy
Since the 2016 sale, the diamond has remained in private hands with no public resales, exhibitions, or notable events reported as of January 2026. The buyer remains anonymous, and it has not reappeared on the market. It continues to be referenced in discussions of rare blue diamonds, such as in De Beers' own promotions of similar stones like the De Beers Cullinan Blue in 2022. Its legacy endures as a symbol of rarity—fewer than 0.02% of diamonds exhibit such vivid blue intensity—and its brush with the infamous heist adds to its storied allure.
The De Beers Millennium Jewel 4, a 10.10 ct oval, Fancy Vivid blue #diamond, hits the auction block tomorrow… pic.twitter.com/yDwvRhdLh6
— GIA (@GIAnews) April 4, 2016
1999 RUSCHA
Flag
2024 SOLD for $ 13.7M by Sotheby's
Jasper Johns had appreciated that the US flag does not need being accompanied by a comment.
Ed Ruscha follows in 1985. The folds of the blowing flag can support a study of depth on a flat surface. The first opus in the series features a flag under strong wind in a Western landscape with a cloudy light of sunrise or sunset.
The second opus, in the same year, features a blue sky. It adds a goodie. A text in four words is fully cancelled by corresponding heavy black stripes. The phrase behind could be the title of the work, an enigmatic Plenty Big Hotel Room. A subtitle is a dedication to the American Indian which cannot easily match the black stripes. In a surrealist vision the flag is floating away from its pole.
Plenty Big Hotel Room, oil on canvas 213 x 152 cm, was sold for $ 6.1M by Sotheby's on November 8, 2023, lot 16.
In 1999 the sixth and last of the series is a panoramic opus titled Georges' Flag, with a similar sunrise-sunset cloudy atmosphere as one of the examples above. This oil on canvas 96 x 330 cm was sold for $ 13.7M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Sotheby's on November 20, 2024, lot 23. Please watch the short video shared by the auction house.
That Georges is the first owner through Gagosian : the Californian designer Georges Marciano.
Ed Ruscha follows in 1985. The folds of the blowing flag can support a study of depth on a flat surface. The first opus in the series features a flag under strong wind in a Western landscape with a cloudy light of sunrise or sunset.
The second opus, in the same year, features a blue sky. It adds a goodie. A text in four words is fully cancelled by corresponding heavy black stripes. The phrase behind could be the title of the work, an enigmatic Plenty Big Hotel Room. A subtitle is a dedication to the American Indian which cannot easily match the black stripes. In a surrealist vision the flag is floating away from its pole.
Plenty Big Hotel Room, oil on canvas 213 x 152 cm, was sold for $ 6.1M by Sotheby's on November 8, 2023, lot 16.
In 1999 the sixth and last of the series is a panoramic opus titled Georges' Flag, with a similar sunrise-sunset cloudy atmosphere as one of the examples above. This oil on canvas 96 x 330 cm was sold for $ 13.7M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Sotheby's on November 20, 2024, lot 23. Please watch the short video shared by the auction house.
That Georges is the first owner through Gagosian : the Californian designer Georges Marciano.
ME
2026 SOLD for $ 7M by Sotheby's
Ruscha (b. 1937) began superimposing text on dramatic, cinematic landscapes in the late 1980s, but the Mountain series — which How Do You Do? belongs to — crystallized in the late 1990s and early 2000s. These large-scale paintings feature archetypal, snow-capped peaks (often evoking the Paramount Pictures logo or generic "paint-by-numbers" sublime backdrops) overlaid with fragmented, floating phrases in his signature blocky typography. The picture looks hyperrealistic although not related to an identified landscape.
The series revives and matures Ruscha's lifelong fascination with the tension between words and images, a theme that dates back to his breakthrough 1960s word paintings (e.g., Oof, 1962–63) and liquid-toned text works, but shifts the backdrop from urban Americana (gas stations, Hollywood signs) to neutral, almost absurdly grandiose natural stages. "How Do You Do?" — a banal greeting rendered monumental — exemplifies the deadpan humor and linguistic subversion that define Ruscha's practice: everyday language disrupts the romantic sublime, creating ironic friction.
Ed Ruscha’s Mountain series (primarily late 1990s–early 2000s, with related prints from 2010 onward) consists of paintings that superimpose bold, often enigmatic words or short phrases in the artist’s signature typography over dramatic, idealized alpine landscapes—typically snow-capped peaks against skies ranging from clear blue to fiery sunsets or gradients.
These works blend Ruscha’s lifelong fascination with language, typography, and the American West (especially Los Angeles/Hollywood iconography) with a conceptual, often ironic or detached take on landscape painting. The mountains serve as an “anonymous backdrop” or “theatrical stage set” for the “drama of words,” rather than romantic celebrations of nature.
Conception and Inspiration
Ruscha (b. 1937, Oklahoma; moved to LA in 1956) drew from his earlier explorations of words in landscapes, Hollywood signage, and the mythic West. He began incorporating alpine scenery around 1997–1998, sourcing composite imagery from postcards, magazines, and photos rather than direct observation (he described such mountains as “only ever a dream” from his flatland upbringing, evoking Canada or Colorado).
A key quote: “It’s not a celebration of nature. I’m not trying to show beauty. It’s more like I’m painting ideas of ideas of mountains... I had a notion to make pictures by using words and presenting them in some way and it seemed like a mountain was an archetypal stage set. It was a perfect foil for whatever was happening in the foreground.”He has also linked them to Hollywood backdrops (e.g., Paramount’s mountain logo) and the tension between sublime imagery and modern anxiety or vernacular language. Phrases often come from driving, media, dreams, or everyday sources, creating dissonance or layered meaning.
Technique and style: Acrylic on canvas, with airbrush/spray for atmospheric effects and precise brushwork. Text uses Ruscha’s custom sans-serif font “Boy Scout Utility Modern” (angular, no curves, neutral and utilitarian; he has used variations since ~1980). This gives the lettering a stenciled, graphic quality that contrasts with the painterly mountains.The series includes paintings like Me (1999), Blast Curtain (1999), and others such as Mountain Standard, Pay Nothing Until April, etc. Later prints (Mountain Prints, 2010–2015) extended the motif with proofs and editions.
Legacy
The Mountain series is a high point in Ruscha’s oeuvre, reinforcing his status as a master of word-image interplay (influenced by Pop, Conceptualism, and West Coast cool). Dozens of examples are in major museums (MoMA, Whitney, Tate, etc.). They exemplify his enduring themes: the banality and poetry of language, the constructed nature of American landscapes/myths, and subtle cultural commentary. The works remain highly sought after, with strong auction performance reflecting their visual immediacy and intellectual depth.Focus on Me (1999, acrylic on canvas, 64 x 72 in.)
This rare work from the series was offered at Sotheby’s “The Now & Contemporary Evening Auction,” New York, May 14, 2026, as lot 105 (estimate $4M–$6M). It sold for $6,952,000 USD.
Key details: The single word “ME” is emblazoned in white (reverse airbrush/stenciled technique) across a snowy mountainside, evoking the Hollywood sign and self-referential themes. It is one of only three known works in the series with this specific text. Provenance includes direct acquisition from the artist by Anne and Anthony d’Offay, London; extensively exhibited (e.g., d’Offay Gallery 2000, major touring shows) and catalogued in the raisonné.
The title’s unusual style—short, personal, palindrome-like in impact, and Hollywood-adjacent—heightens the introspective or ego-driven connotation against the grand, impersonal peaks. Sotheby’s highlighted it as “peak Ruscha,” transporting viewers from Hollywood Hills to places like Colorado’s Maroon Bells.
Comparison to Blast Curtain (1999, acrylic on canvas, 64 x 64 in.)
BLAST CURTAIN, with that title in two rows, is a rare example for which the artist managed later to find a correlation with the backdrop, possibly to please an admirer. Iron Curtain, for example, should have been more convincing for expressing the anxiety of modern life conditions. The valley is still in the darkness of the night. This acrylic on canvas 163 x 163 cm painted in 1999 was sold for $ 5.6M by Christie's on May 14, 2025, lot 5B.
Similarities: Same year, size scale, technique (airbrush + brush, Boy Scout Utility Modern font in white lettering), provenance link to d’Offay, and exhibition history (both in 2000 d’Offay “Mountains and Portraits” show). Both use dramatic, sunlit/snowy peaks as backdrops for evocative phrases.
Differences:
In short, it's a solid endorsement of Ruscha's late-phase experimentation rather than a career-defining pinnacle — those remain firmly rooted in the 1960s.
How do you do?, oil on canvas 183 x 315 cm painted in 2003, was sold for $ 6.8M by Christie's on November 19, 2025, lot 4B.
Context in Ruscha's Oeuvre
Ruscha (b. 1937) began superimposing text on dramatic, cinematic landscapes in the late 1980s, but the Mountain series — which How Do You Do? belongs to — crystallized in the late 1990s and early 2000s. These large-scale paintings feature archetypal, snow-capped peaks (often evoking the Paramount Pictures logo or generic "paint-by-numbers" sublime backdrops) overlaid with fragmented, floating phrases in his signature blocky typography. The series revives and matures Ruscha's lifelong fascination with the tension between words and images, a theme that dates back to his breakthrough 1960s word paintings (e.g., Oof, 1962–63) and liquid-toned text works, but shifts the backdrop from urban Americana (gas stations, Hollywood signs) to neutral, almost absurdly grandiose natural stages. "How Do You Do?" — a banal greeting rendered monumental — exemplifies the deadpan humor and linguistic subversion that define Ruscha's practice: everyday language disrupts the romantic sublime, creating ironic friction.
The series revives and matures Ruscha's lifelong fascination with the tension between words and images, a theme that dates back to his breakthrough 1960s word paintings (e.g., Oof, 1962–63) and liquid-toned text works, but shifts the backdrop from urban Americana (gas stations, Hollywood signs) to neutral, almost absurdly grandiose natural stages. "How Do You Do?" — a banal greeting rendered monumental — exemplifies the deadpan humor and linguistic subversion that define Ruscha's practice: everyday language disrupts the romantic sublime, creating ironic friction.
Ed Ruscha’s Mountain series (primarily late 1990s–early 2000s, with related prints from 2010 onward) consists of paintings that superimpose bold, often enigmatic words or short phrases in the artist’s signature typography over dramatic, idealized alpine landscapes—typically snow-capped peaks against skies ranging from clear blue to fiery sunsets or gradients.
These works blend Ruscha’s lifelong fascination with language, typography, and the American West (especially Los Angeles/Hollywood iconography) with a conceptual, often ironic or detached take on landscape painting. The mountains serve as an “anonymous backdrop” or “theatrical stage set” for the “drama of words,” rather than romantic celebrations of nature.
Conception and Inspiration
Ruscha (b. 1937, Oklahoma; moved to LA in 1956) drew from his earlier explorations of words in landscapes, Hollywood signage, and the mythic West. He began incorporating alpine scenery around 1997–1998, sourcing composite imagery from postcards, magazines, and photos rather than direct observation (he described such mountains as “only ever a dream” from his flatland upbringing, evoking Canada or Colorado).
A key quote: “It’s not a celebration of nature. I’m not trying to show beauty. It’s more like I’m painting ideas of ideas of mountains... I had a notion to make pictures by using words and presenting them in some way and it seemed like a mountain was an archetypal stage set. It was a perfect foil for whatever was happening in the foreground.”He has also linked them to Hollywood backdrops (e.g., Paramount’s mountain logo) and the tension between sublime imagery and modern anxiety or vernacular language. Phrases often come from driving, media, dreams, or everyday sources, creating dissonance or layered meaning.
Technique and style: Acrylic on canvas, with airbrush/spray for atmospheric effects and precise brushwork. Text uses Ruscha’s custom sans-serif font “Boy Scout Utility Modern” (angular, no curves, neutral and utilitarian; he has used variations since ~1980). This gives the lettering a stenciled, graphic quality that contrasts with the painterly mountains.The series includes paintings like Me (1999), Blast Curtain (1999), and others such as Mountain Standard, Pay Nothing Until April, etc. Later prints (Mountain Prints, 2010–2015) extended the motif with proofs and editions.
Legacy
The Mountain series is a high point in Ruscha’s oeuvre, reinforcing his status as a master of word-image interplay (influenced by Pop, Conceptualism, and West Coast cool). Dozens of examples are in major museums (MoMA, Whitney, Tate, etc.). They exemplify his enduring themes: the banality and poetry of language, the constructed nature of American landscapes/myths, and subtle cultural commentary. The works remain highly sought after, with strong auction performance reflecting their visual immediacy and intellectual depth.Focus on Me (1999, acrylic on canvas, 64 x 72 in.)
This rare work from the series was offered at Sotheby’s “The Now & Contemporary Evening Auction,” New York, May 14, 2026, as lot 105 (estimate $4M–$6M). It sold for $6,952,000 USD.
Key details: The single word “ME” is emblazoned in white (reverse airbrush/stenciled technique) across a snowy mountainside, evoking the Hollywood sign and self-referential themes. It is one of only three known works in the series with this specific text. Provenance includes direct acquisition from the artist by Anne and Anthony d’Offay, London; extensively exhibited (e.g., d’Offay Gallery 2000, major touring shows) and catalogued in the raisonné.
The title’s unusual style—short, personal, palindrome-like in impact, and Hollywood-adjacent—heightens the introspective or ego-driven connotation against the grand, impersonal peaks. Sotheby’s highlighted it as “peak Ruscha,” transporting viewers from Hollywood Hills to places like Colorado’s Maroon Bells.
Comparison to Blast Curtain (1999, acrylic on canvas, 64 x 64 in.)
BLAST CURTAIN, with that title in two rows, is a rare example for which the artist managed later to find a correlation with the backdrop, possibly to please an admirer. Iron Curtain, for example, should have been more convincing for expressing the anxiety of modern life conditions. The valley is still in the darkness of the night. This acrylic on canvas 163 x 163 cm painted in 1999 was sold for $ 5.6M by Christie's on May 14, 2025, lot 5B.
Similarities: Same year, size scale, technique (airbrush + brush, Boy Scout Utility Modern font in white lettering), provenance link to d’Offay, and exhibition history (both in 2000 d’Offay “Mountains and Portraits” show). Both use dramatic, sunlit/snowy peaks as backdrops for evocative phrases.
Differences:
- Blast Curtain features a longer, more industrial/militaristic phrase (“BLAST CURTAIN” – referencing sound-baffling walls at airports), creating anxiety/modern intrusion against the serene vista; Ruscha noted its “palindromic idea” and metaphor for glory/anxiety hidden behind mountains.
- Me is sparer and more personal/direct.
- Blast Curtain is square (more centered/composed feel); Me is slightly rectangular.
- Me achieved a higher price ($6.95M vs. $5.62M), possibly due to the rarity of the “ME” text, stronger recent market momentum for Ruscha, or its Hollywood-sign resonance.
In short, it's a solid endorsement of Ruscha's late-phase experimentation rather than a career-defining pinnacle — those remain firmly rooted in the 1960s.
How do you do?, oil on canvas 183 x 315 cm painted in 2003, was sold for $ 6.8M by Christie's on November 19, 2025, lot 4B.
Context in Ruscha's Oeuvre
Ruscha (b. 1937) began superimposing text on dramatic, cinematic landscapes in the late 1980s, but the Mountain series — which How Do You Do? belongs to — crystallized in the late 1990s and early 2000s. These large-scale paintings feature archetypal, snow-capped peaks (often evoking the Paramount Pictures logo or generic "paint-by-numbers" sublime backdrops) overlaid with fragmented, floating phrases in his signature blocky typography. The series revives and matures Ruscha's lifelong fascination with the tension between words and images, a theme that dates back to his breakthrough 1960s word paintings (e.g., Oof, 1962–63) and liquid-toned text works, but shifts the backdrop from urban Americana (gas stations, Hollywood signs) to neutral, almost absurdly grandiose natural stages. "How Do You Do?" — a banal greeting rendered monumental — exemplifies the deadpan humor and linguistic subversion that define Ruscha's practice: everyday language disrupts the romantic sublime, creating ironic friction.
1996-1999 The Attendant by Marden
2022 SOLD for $ 13.6M by Christie's
The Attendant is a series of six paintings begun by Brice Marden in 1996 and exhibited together in 2000-2001 at the Serpentine Gallery in London. It displays a synthesis of the major phases in Marden's art.
The background reminds the rich monochrome flats in the Post and lintel series of the early 1970s.
The title and subtitles refer to Chinese culture but not through calligraphy and poetry as in the Cold Mountain series of the later 1980s. It now refers to Han funerary earthenware figures placed in tombs to accompany the deceased on their journey to eternity. These fully abstract musicalist lines stage the eternal loop of time.
In that new phase the lines in bright pure colors are fully sinuous instead of angular. The composition may echo the simplified abstract works by de Kooning in the 1980s.
The first opus is The Attendee. This oil on canvas 208 x 145 cm dated 1996-1999 was sold for $ 11M from a lower estimate of $ 7M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2013, lot 12, and for $ 13.6M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 39. The lines intersect one another in a sequence of red over yellow over green over white against a grey background.
The background reminds the rich monochrome flats in the Post and lintel series of the early 1970s.
The title and subtitles refer to Chinese culture but not through calligraphy and poetry as in the Cold Mountain series of the later 1980s. It now refers to Han funerary earthenware figures placed in tombs to accompany the deceased on their journey to eternity. These fully abstract musicalist lines stage the eternal loop of time.
In that new phase the lines in bright pure colors are fully sinuous instead of angular. The composition may echo the simplified abstract works by de Kooning in the 1980s.
The first opus is The Attendee. This oil on canvas 208 x 145 cm dated 1996-1999 was sold for $ 11M from a lower estimate of $ 7M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2013, lot 12, and for $ 13.6M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 39. The lines intersect one another in a sequence of red over yellow over green over white against a grey background.
1999 Nice 'n Easy by Currin
2016 SOLD for $ 12M by Christie's
John Currin loves working with images from the Renaissance masters to the point of replicating their errors in the proportions of the body. He assembles old heads on naked bodies. One of these postmenopausal and unfriendly women caught in back view, oil on canvas 122 x 91 cm painted in 1993, has enticed no buyer at Phillips de Pury on 13 November 2008.
It was beneficial for the artist and his work that he transferred his erotic impulses on a living muse. He falls in love in 1994 with the female sculptor Rachel Feinstein. Aged 23, she has a long body and small breasts like a Venus by Cranach and the wavy blonde hair of Botticelli's Venus. They marry in 1997.
Nice 'n Easy, oil on canvas 112 x 86 cm painted in 1999, was sold for $ 5.5M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2008 and for $ 12M by Christie's on November 15, 2016, lot 25 A.
Two women play a mannerist scene in full frontal nude. They have the same bodily features and the same porcelain skin but their attitude is opposed. The woman on the right is a day dreaming Rachel, her mouth gently opened and a hand on a breast in a gesture of trust. The other woman shows an exuberant joy and extends a hand over the belly of her fellow.
This quite mannerist gesture is a prediction of fertility to be compared with the hand of the duchesse de Villars on the nipple of Gabrielle d'Estrées in the famous painting of the Ecole de Fontainebleau. Nice 'n Easy is not a lesbian scene. It is the projection of a male artist who wanted to express with similar figures his erotic desire and its female incarnation.
The pearl effect of the skin is a reuse of the 17th century technique of underpainting. The elongated body reminds Parmigianino. Currin expresses his own virtuosity in tiny brush strokes. He does not paint from a live model, mingling instead the Renaissance ideals of beauty with the pin up girls of the 1940s.
It was beneficial for the artist and his work that he transferred his erotic impulses on a living muse. He falls in love in 1994 with the female sculptor Rachel Feinstein. Aged 23, she has a long body and small breasts like a Venus by Cranach and the wavy blonde hair of Botticelli's Venus. They marry in 1997.
Nice 'n Easy, oil on canvas 112 x 86 cm painted in 1999, was sold for $ 5.5M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2008 and for $ 12M by Christie's on November 15, 2016, lot 25 A.
Two women play a mannerist scene in full frontal nude. They have the same bodily features and the same porcelain skin but their attitude is opposed. The woman on the right is a day dreaming Rachel, her mouth gently opened and a hand on a breast in a gesture of trust. The other woman shows an exuberant joy and extends a hand over the belly of her fellow.
This quite mannerist gesture is a prediction of fertility to be compared with the hand of the duchesse de Villars on the nipple of Gabrielle d'Estrées in the famous painting of the Ecole de Fontainebleau. Nice 'n Easy is not a lesbian scene. It is the projection of a male artist who wanted to express with similar figures his erotic desire and its female incarnation.
The pearl effect of the skin is a reuse of the 17th century technique of underpainting. The elongated body reminds Parmigianino. Currin expresses his own virtuosity in tiny brush strokes. He does not paint from a live model, mingling instead the Renaissance ideals of beauty with the pin up girls of the 1940s.
1990-1999 Vertige Neigeux by Chu Teh-Chun
2016 SOLD for HK$ 92M by Christie's
The art of Chu Teh-Chun is devoted to the beauty and poetry of nature which he expresses in the form of abstract landscapes. He has retained both the subtlety of the brushes and wash of the Song artists and the sensory memory of Nicolas de Staël.
From a trip to the Alps in 1965, Chu sometimes introduces snow into his views. In December 1985 his train crosses a snow storm. Highly inspired by this unforeseen experience, he explores until 1990 the theme of the white winter.
Despite their geographical separation Chu had remained in close relationship with Wu Guanzhong whom he had known for nearly half a century. Wu is the great experimenter of the artistic synthesis between East and West. In 1983 he used the point and the line to construct a landscape.
Chu does the same to express the unlimited variety of snow. It is light or dense and floats in sunlight, and becomes mist or frost. It is the main actor of the scenery by masking the features of the landscape. The artist prepares the canvas with a bright wash that will provide an overall impression. If the effect of this texture pleases him, he paints his points and lines, more or less large and more or less dense.
He also appreciates the advantage of very large formats to express his poetic emotion but the lift of his building in the suburbs of Paris is too small to carry large canvases. For this reason his widest snow scenes are made as diptychs. Inspiration Hivernale, 195 x 260 cm, finished in 1990, was sold for HK $ 28.7M by Sotheby's on April 4, 2011.
Vertige Neigeux, 200 x 400 cm, is the ultimate achievement of this series. From 1990 to 1999 Chu meticulously modifies this painting until obtaining a perfect satisfaction. It was sold by Christie's for HK $ 45.5M on November 29, 2009 and for HK $ 92M on November 26, 2016, lot 2508.
From a trip to the Alps in 1965, Chu sometimes introduces snow into his views. In December 1985 his train crosses a snow storm. Highly inspired by this unforeseen experience, he explores until 1990 the theme of the white winter.
Despite their geographical separation Chu had remained in close relationship with Wu Guanzhong whom he had known for nearly half a century. Wu is the great experimenter of the artistic synthesis between East and West. In 1983 he used the point and the line to construct a landscape.
Chu does the same to express the unlimited variety of snow. It is light or dense and floats in sunlight, and becomes mist or frost. It is the main actor of the scenery by masking the features of the landscape. The artist prepares the canvas with a bright wash that will provide an overall impression. If the effect of this texture pleases him, he paints his points and lines, more or less large and more or less dense.
He also appreciates the advantage of very large formats to express his poetic emotion but the lift of his building in the suburbs of Paris is too small to carry large canvases. For this reason his widest snow scenes are made as diptychs. Inspiration Hivernale, 195 x 260 cm, finished in 1990, was sold for HK $ 28.7M by Sotheby's on April 4, 2011.
Vertige Neigeux, 200 x 400 cm, is the ultimate achievement of this series. From 1990 to 1999 Chu meticulously modifies this painting until obtaining a perfect satisfaction. It was sold by Christie's for HK $ 45.5M on November 29, 2009 and for HK $ 92M on November 26, 2016, lot 2508.
Country Rock by DOIG
Intro
Peter Doig's pictures deal with the issues in the relationship between humans and their planet. His urban subjects show the time limited nature of constructions.
A parallel between some of his work and the art of Hopper may be considered despite more than a half-century between them. Both artists question the ephemeral architecture. They work in the studio, Hopper from sketches of abandoned houses made during his car trips between New York and Cape Cod, and Doig with specially collected images.
Doig is after Diebenkorn one of the artists who took advantage of abstract expressionism for a return to figurative. His impeccable control in mixing liquid colors made him the best landscape painter of our time.
Despite this success, the themes of landscape and architecture do not adequately express modern life. In the late 1990s, Doig discovers how the geometry is an inevitable component in the vision of the contemporary world.
His series of Country rocks, around 1999, is the expression of new contrasts : between the linear structure of the highway and the amorphous look of the suburbs ; between the greyness of the surroundings and the rainbow of the memorial tunnel.
The highway has become an inevitable part in our civilization. A surprisingly surrealist painting made by Hopper in 1939 shows three horse riders rushing at full speed into a tunnel in an uninteresting suburb. It was sold for $ 10.4M by Sotheby's on May 17, 2012.
On a six-lane highway near Toronto, a teenager girl died in a car crash in 1972. In memoriam her 16 year old boyfriend painted in the vicinity a rainbow around an insignificant tunnel passing under a railway. This signal for road safety will be acknowledged much later as a work of art, repainted in 2012 from a grant by the City of Toronto..
Doig painted this scenery around 1999 in a group of three paintings titled Country Rock. An ugly white security barrier separates the banal road from the unpleasant suburb. In the center, partly hidden behind the barrier, the rainbow borders the black hole of the tunnel.
In 2000, with the title Country Rock from 100 years ago, Peter Doig imagines how the site was looking before the subway and tunnel, confirming the series as an expression of nostalgia.
Man is absent but his industry globally changed the scenery everywhere, including in the tropics. The refusal of the anecdotes does not prevent the immersion of the artist in this world where aesthetic shapes have been cleared by utilitarianism.
On October 16, 2014, Christie's sold for £ 4.6M The Heart of Old San Juan, oil on canvas 250 x 195 cm painted in 1999, lot 58. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The inspiration for this painting may be compared with the Country rocks. Located this time in Puerto Rico, its main element is a basketball court which offers its abstract geometry of lines, circles and panels in a rigorous bird-view perspective. The setting sun is an excuse for bringing a shimmering dimension to the green shades of the field.
A parallel between some of his work and the art of Hopper may be considered despite more than a half-century between them. Both artists question the ephemeral architecture. They work in the studio, Hopper from sketches of abandoned houses made during his car trips between New York and Cape Cod, and Doig with specially collected images.
Doig is after Diebenkorn one of the artists who took advantage of abstract expressionism for a return to figurative. His impeccable control in mixing liquid colors made him the best landscape painter of our time.
Despite this success, the themes of landscape and architecture do not adequately express modern life. In the late 1990s, Doig discovers how the geometry is an inevitable component in the vision of the contemporary world.
His series of Country rocks, around 1999, is the expression of new contrasts : between the linear structure of the highway and the amorphous look of the suburbs ; between the greyness of the surroundings and the rainbow of the memorial tunnel.
The highway has become an inevitable part in our civilization. A surprisingly surrealist painting made by Hopper in 1939 shows three horse riders rushing at full speed into a tunnel in an uninteresting suburb. It was sold for $ 10.4M by Sotheby's on May 17, 2012.
On a six-lane highway near Toronto, a teenager girl died in a car crash in 1972. In memoriam her 16 year old boyfriend painted in the vicinity a rainbow around an insignificant tunnel passing under a railway. This signal for road safety will be acknowledged much later as a work of art, repainted in 2012 from a grant by the City of Toronto..
Doig painted this scenery around 1999 in a group of three paintings titled Country Rock. An ugly white security barrier separates the banal road from the unpleasant suburb. In the center, partly hidden behind the barrier, the rainbow borders the black hole of the tunnel.
In 2000, with the title Country Rock from 100 years ago, Peter Doig imagines how the site was looking before the subway and tunnel, confirming the series as an expression of nostalgia.
Man is absent but his industry globally changed the scenery everywhere, including in the tropics. The refusal of the anecdotes does not prevent the immersion of the artist in this world where aesthetic shapes have been cleared by utilitarianism.
On October 16, 2014, Christie's sold for £ 4.6M The Heart of Old San Juan, oil on canvas 250 x 195 cm painted in 1999, lot 58. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The inspiration for this painting may be compared with the Country rocks. Located this time in Puerto Rico, its main element is a basketball court which offers its abstract geometry of lines, circles and panels in a rigorous bird-view perspective. The setting sun is an excuse for bringing a shimmering dimension to the green shades of the field.
1
1998-1999
2025 SOLD for £ 9.2M by Christie's
A Country Rock without the wing mirror is signed twice by Peter Doig and dated 98-99.
In this straighter version which may be the first of three in monumental size, the two white lines of the road and the security barrier are strictly horizontal, cancelling the illusion of motion. A comparison of this tripartite composition with the 1999 Rhein II photo by Gursky may be relevant. The sizes are similar. The Rhein II 1/6 was sold for $ 4.3M by Christie's in 2011.
This oil on canvas 200 x 300 cm was sold for £ 9.2M from a loer estimate of £ 7M by Christie's on October 15, 2025, lot 8.
In this straighter version which may be the first of three in monumental size, the two white lines of the road and the security barrier are strictly horizontal, cancelling the illusion of motion. A comparison of this tripartite composition with the 1999 Rhein II photo by Gursky may be relevant. The sizes are similar. The Rhein II 1/6 was sold for $ 4.3M by Christie's in 2011.
This oil on canvas 200 x 300 cm was sold for £ 9.2M from a loer estimate of £ 7M by Christie's on October 15, 2025, lot 8.
2
1999 with wing mirror
2014 SOLD for £ 8.5M by Sotheby's
One of these three paintings adds to the mystery an element that Hopper would have liked : the wing mirror, only visible piece of a vehicle passing in front of the tunnel at full speed and in total indifference. The slightly oblique road lines add an illusion of motion which did not appear in the original 1998-1999 version.
This oil on canvas 195 x 270 cm painted in 1999 was sold by Sotheby's for £ 8.5M on June 30, 2014, lot 27, and for HK $ 75M on October 7, 2022, lot 1214. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's in 2014.
Confirmation asked to Grok 4 :
Check if the example of Country Rock by Peter Doig, for sale on October 15, 2025 by Christie's from the Ole Faarup collection, anticipates the two other monumental versions, one sold by Sotheby's in 2022 and the other one kept in the Pinchuk Art Centre Collection in Kiev.
Grok thought :
Yes, the 1998-1999 version of Country Rock from the Ole Faarup collection, scheduled for sale at Christie's on October 15, 2025, is the earliest in the series of three monumental paintings created between 1998 and 2000. It precedes and anticipates the 1999 version titled Country-rock (wing-mirror) sold by Sotheby's in 2022, as well as the third version held in the Pinchuk Art Centre collection.
This oil on canvas 195 x 270 cm painted in 1999 was sold by Sotheby's for £ 8.5M on June 30, 2014, lot 27, and for HK $ 75M on October 7, 2022, lot 1214. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's in 2014.
Confirmation asked to Grok 4 :
Check if the example of Country Rock by Peter Doig, for sale on October 15, 2025 by Christie's from the Ole Faarup collection, anticipates the two other monumental versions, one sold by Sotheby's in 2022 and the other one kept in the Pinchuk Art Centre Collection in Kiev.
Grok thought :
Yes, the 1998-1999 version of Country Rock from the Ole Faarup collection, scheduled for sale at Christie's on October 15, 2025, is the earliest in the series of three monumental paintings created between 1998 and 2000. It precedes and anticipates the 1999 version titled Country-rock (wing-mirror) sold by Sotheby's in 2022, as well as the third version held in the Pinchuk Art Centre collection.
1999 Typewriter Eraser by Oldenburg and van Bruggen
2022 SOLD for $ 8.4M by Christie's
In the best tradition of pop art, the Swedish born Claes Oldenburg makes monumental enlargements of familiar objects for shop windows from 1961 and for public outdoor installations from 1964. He works from 1977 in co-operation with the Dutch sculptor Coosje van Bruggen whom he marries in 1979.
The now obsolete typewriter eraser had been an effective small and humble instrument that remained in Oldenburg's memory from his boyhood playing in father's office.
The number 3/3 eraser from a 1976 edition in painted aluminum, stainless steel, ferroconcrete and bronze 227 x 203 x 178 cm was sold for $ 2.2M by Christie's on May 13, 2009, lot 10. The giant disk-shaped eraser has just reached the ground, the bristles of its brush turned upwards.
The number 3/3 from a 1999 Scale X edition by Oldenburg and van Bruggen in stainless steel, fiberglass and acrylic polyurethane paint 59 x 36 x 36 cm was sold for $ 8.4M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Christie's on November 10, 2022, lot 124 in the day sale of the Paul G. Allen collection.
The now obsolete typewriter eraser had been an effective small and humble instrument that remained in Oldenburg's memory from his boyhood playing in father's office.
The number 3/3 eraser from a 1976 edition in painted aluminum, stainless steel, ferroconcrete and bronze 227 x 203 x 178 cm was sold for $ 2.2M by Christie's on May 13, 2009, lot 10. The giant disk-shaped eraser has just reached the ground, the bristles of its brush turned upwards.
The number 3/3 from a 1999 Scale X edition by Oldenburg and van Bruggen in stainless steel, fiberglass and acrylic polyurethane paint 59 x 36 x 36 cm was sold for $ 8.4M from a lower estimate of $ 5M by Christie's on November 10, 2022, lot 124 in the day sale of the Paul G. Allen collection.
