2004
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Koons Bouquet Doig Hirst Prince Lalanne
See also : Koons Bouquet Doig Hirst Prince Lalanne
2004 Tulips by Koons
2012 SOLD for $ 33.7M by Christie's
After exploiting the stupidity of the contemporary symbols conveyed by the popular imaging, Jeff Koons began in 1994 his great series of Celebrations.
On November 14, 2012, Christie's sold at lot 38 for $ 33.7M an example of Tulips, which is an even more complex step in the development of the art of Koons. Please watch the video featured by Christie's, in which the artist himself introduces this artwork.
The subject, a bouquet of seven flowers placed on a surface, is simple and universally recognizable, like all other themes in the Celebrations. The artwork, completed in 2004, can not go unnoticed: 203 x 457 x 520 cm. It weighs 3 tons.
The tulips within the bouquet are of different colors, so that the interaction of their reflections covers the entire spectrum of light. The work was carried out in five units with different arrangements of colors, extrapolating the logics of the previous Celebrations, and the reflection of the surroundings and of the public remains an essential element of the exhibition of the artwork.
On November 14, 2012, Christie's sold at lot 38 for $ 33.7M an example of Tulips, which is an even more complex step in the development of the art of Koons. Please watch the video featured by Christie's, in which the artist himself introduces this artwork.
The subject, a bouquet of seven flowers placed on a surface, is simple and universally recognizable, like all other themes in the Celebrations. The artwork, completed in 2004, can not go unnoticed: 203 x 457 x 520 cm. It weighs 3 tons.
The tulips within the bouquet are of different colors, so that the interaction of their reflections covers the entire spectrum of light. The work was carried out in five units with different arrangements of colors, extrapolating the logics of the previous Celebrations, and the reflection of the surroundings and of the public remains an essential element of the exhibition of the artwork.
2004 Bacchus by TWOMBLY
Intro
Cy Twombly has always been hypersensitive to political violence whether it comes from myth or from current events. He lives in Gaeta which also houses a NATO naval base. The hypothesis that his series dedicated to Bacchus were triggered by Mediterranean maneuvers during the Iraq war may be considered.
His Bacchus are abstract paintings consisting of a tangle of vermilion loops on a light flesh-colored background. In 2004 the first set of six includes inscriptions from Greek attesting that Bacchus is not here the god of drinking and debauchery but is in his other role of personification of furious madness.
The legend of Bacchus interested Twombly by his earthiness that reaches pornography and transcends time. The paint is blood-red, to be considered here as a sign of vitality. The thick and energetic loops form a puddle from which the gravitation generates drippings.
The artist used a brush attached to a long pole, as Matisse had done for murals. This leverage increases the physical strength, offering an unexpected parallel between Twombly and Shiraga's Gutai.
The lasso loops rise and fall between the top and bottom of the picture in endless spirals. Painted by the artist with a wide brush at the end of a long stick, they are not comparable with the proto-writing loops on his blackboards 35 years earlier. Thin vertical drippings give an idea of the sticky wetness of blood or wine.
Twombly does not immediately exhibit this first series because its vertical format 2.66 m high is not conducive enough to the burst of feelings and perhaps also because his art must be expressive by itself to get rid of the inscriptions.
The artist makes the second Bacchus series in 2005 in eight paintings that are immediately exhibited as a whole set by Gagosian in New York.
His Bacchus are abstract paintings consisting of a tangle of vermilion loops on a light flesh-colored background. In 2004 the first set of six includes inscriptions from Greek attesting that Bacchus is not here the god of drinking and debauchery but is in his other role of personification of furious madness.
The legend of Bacchus interested Twombly by his earthiness that reaches pornography and transcends time. The paint is blood-red, to be considered here as a sign of vitality. The thick and energetic loops form a puddle from which the gravitation generates drippings.
The artist used a brush attached to a long pole, as Matisse had done for murals. This leverage increases the physical strength, offering an unexpected parallel between Twombly and Shiraga's Gutai.
The lasso loops rise and fall between the top and bottom of the picture in endless spirals. Painted by the artist with a wide brush at the end of a long stick, they are not comparable with the proto-writing loops on his blackboards 35 years earlier. Thin vertical drippings give an idea of the sticky wetness of blood or wine.
Twombly does not immediately exhibit this first series because its vertical format 2.66 m high is not conducive enough to the burst of feelings and perhaps also because his art must be expressive by itself to get rid of the inscriptions.
The artist makes the second Bacchus series in 2005 in eight paintings that are immediately exhibited as a whole set by Gagosian in New York.
1
II Psilax
2023 SOLD for $ 20M by Christie's
The 2004 Bacchus series of by Twombly is homogeneous in its six paintings for the blood red color and the composition with loops and drippings. Nevertheless the subtitle above the abstract figure may refer to Mainomenos or to Psilax, two major variants deploying the same nleashed energy in the impersonation of the god. While Mainomenos is raging, the winged Psilax is using the orgy to lift the soul of the sinners.
The number II in that first series is a Psilax. This acrylic, oilstick and crayon on wood pane 270 x 200 cm in an artist's wood frame was sold for $ 20M by Christie's on November 7, 2023, lot 12A.
The number II in that first series is a Psilax. This acrylic, oilstick and crayon on wood pane 270 x 200 cm in an artist's wood frame was sold for $ 20M by Christie's on November 7, 2023, lot 12A.
2
V Baccho Mainomenos
2016 SOLD for $ 15.4M by Sotheby's
Untitled (Bacchus 1st version V), executed in 2004, is an acrylic, oilstick and wax on wood panel 266 x 200 cm. It was sold for $ 15.4M by Sotheby's on May 11, 2016, lot 25.
This work is totally abstract but its unambiguous theme is reinforced by the words Baccho Mainomenos inscribed with the same red color at the top of the image, evoking the most licentious pursuits of this very special god who invited his followers to indecency.
This work is totally abstract but its unambiguous theme is reinforced by the words Baccho Mainomenos inscribed with the same red color at the top of the image, evoking the most licentious pursuits of this very special god who invited his followers to indecency.
2004 Gast Hof by Doig
2014 SOLD for £ 10M by Christie's
It is not the usual practice of Peter Doig to paint self portraits.
He had in mind a multicolored stone wall in full light in front of the blurred landscape of a dam lake in the night as an experience of contrasts in tonalities and sharpness, opposing realistic photography and dreamlike memory. The paint would appear opaque when lit from the front and transparent when backlit.
He wanted to add two sentinels, also in the blur. He made his hand on a photo of himself with a friend in out of fashion regalia in the backstage of the English National Opera where he had a part time job as a dresser.
Doig began the painting in 2002 in London just before he left for Trinidad where it was completed. This oil on canvas 275 x 200 cm is dated 2002-04 by the artist. It is titled Gast Guest House Haus Hof after an old German post card which contributed to the inspiration.
Gast Hof was sold for £ 10M from a lower estimate of £ 3M by Christie's on July 1, 2014, lot 14. The abundant moustaches of the two characters make it impossible to discriminate which one is the selfie.
He had in mind a multicolored stone wall in full light in front of the blurred landscape of a dam lake in the night as an experience of contrasts in tonalities and sharpness, opposing realistic photography and dreamlike memory. The paint would appear opaque when lit from the front and transparent when backlit.
He wanted to add two sentinels, also in the blur. He made his hand on a photo of himself with a friend in out of fashion regalia in the backstage of the English National Opera where he had a part time job as a dresser.
Doig began the painting in 2002 in London just before he left for Trinidad where it was completed. This oil on canvas 275 x 200 cm is dated 2002-04 by the artist. It is titled Gast Guest House Haus Hof after an old German post card which contributed to the inspiration.
Gast Hof was sold for £ 10M from a lower estimate of £ 3M by Christie's on July 1, 2014, lot 14. The abundant moustaches of the two characters make it impossible to discriminate which one is the selfie.
2004 Abstraktes Bild by Richter
2013 SOLD for £ 8.4M by Christie's
The Abstraktes Bild from the 1990s are now the stars of the contemporary art market. Richter's rake is structuring the surface of the canvas where the colors clash. To our delight, Richter continued to explore the limitless language of abstraction.
On February 13, 2013, Christie's sold for £ 8.4M an Abstraktes Bild, 225 x 200 cm, made in 2004.
The shiny surface of the canvas does not provide any more contrast but a wonderful blend of rare tones from green to purple, like a huge painter's palette where the colors were mixed together before drying.
Only interrupted by one small horizontal rectangle, the overall movement is much vertical, like a cathedral of colors or maybe like a great musicalist inspiration at a time when the artist was captivated by John Cage.
With such a work that has lost all idea of shape, with his unconventional colors that mix in a supreme harmony, Richter in his recent works is possibly overcoming Rothko.
Cautiously, the auction house does not publish an estimate. No large work from that period had yet appeared at auction. On June 27, 2012, Christie's sold for £ 2.7 a 2005 Abstraktes Bild of smaller size, 113 x 75 cm.
On February 13, 2013, Christie's sold for £ 8.4M an Abstraktes Bild, 225 x 200 cm, made in 2004.
The shiny surface of the canvas does not provide any more contrast but a wonderful blend of rare tones from green to purple, like a huge painter's palette where the colors were mixed together before drying.
Only interrupted by one small horizontal rectangle, the overall movement is much vertical, like a cathedral of colors or maybe like a great musicalist inspiration at a time when the artist was captivated by John Cage.
With such a work that has lost all idea of shape, with his unconventional colors that mix in a supreme harmony, Richter in his recent works is possibly overcoming Rothko.
Cautiously, the auction house does not publish an estimate. No large work from that period had yet appeared at auction. On June 27, 2012, Christie's sold for £ 2.7 a 2005 Abstraktes Bild of smaller size, 113 x 75 cm.
2004 Le Minotaure by Lalanne
2021 SOLD for € 8M by Sotheby's
The fancy tales of Greek mythology inspire François-Xavier Lalanne. The very first flock of his signature Moutons seats was titled Pour Polyphème.
In 1990, in a special project for the park of an artistic center close to their home near Fontainebleau, Claude Lalanne adds a recliner onto the bull in a piece which is no more a usable seat. The character is the life size nude Europe abducted by her loving bull. The bronze prototype, 200 cm high, 202 cm long and 85 cm wide, was sold for € 1.24M by the Fontainebleau auction house Osenat on October 3, 2021, lot 1.
François-Xavier takes the follow in a nice example of mutual inspiration in the couple. His Minotaure, 202 x 190 x 67 cm, is exactly scaled like L'Enlèvement d'Europe. Made in 2004 in eight copies in patinated bronze sheet with the foundry mark of Bocquel, it is also definitely not a seat. It features the raised torso and hanging arms of a man between the proud horned head and the body of a bull.
Coming from the collection of Dorothée Lalanne, the Minotaure 4/8 was sold for € 8M from a lower estimate of € 1M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2021, lot 14.
In 1990, in a special project for the park of an artistic center close to their home near Fontainebleau, Claude Lalanne adds a recliner onto the bull in a piece which is no more a usable seat. The character is the life size nude Europe abducted by her loving bull. The bronze prototype, 200 cm high, 202 cm long and 85 cm wide, was sold for € 1.24M by the Fontainebleau auction house Osenat on October 3, 2021, lot 1.
François-Xavier takes the follow in a nice example of mutual inspiration in the couple. His Minotaure, 202 x 190 x 67 cm, is exactly scaled like L'Enlèvement d'Europe. Made in 2004 in eight copies in patinated bronze sheet with the foundry mark of Bocquel, it is also definitely not a seat. It features the raised torso and hanging arms of a man between the proud horned head and the body of a bull.
Coming from the collection of Dorothée Lalanne, the Minotaure 4/8 was sold for € 8M from a lower estimate of € 1M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2021, lot 14.
2004 Kimpsons by KAWS
2019 SOLD for HK$ 58M by Sotheby's
Brian Donnelly is a street artist. He began his career by adding zany attributes to posters in the New York bus shelters. He chooses KAWS as his artist name because he finds that the alignment of these four block letters is pretty.
He populates his universe with specific characters, as Disney had done. Like Koons and Murakami, he operates derivative products. His little toys are very popular. The largest of his inflatable dolls reaches 37 m and weighs 40 tons. The eyes in X, as on Haring's characters from beyond grave, are a signature feature of his art.
KAWS re-appropriates fictitious characters recognizable by the general public : Snoopy, Garfield, the Smurfs, Spongebob, Bibendum, and of course the Simpsons who take a parallel life under the name of Kimpsons.
An artwork painted in 2003 shows the Kimpson family sitting on a sofa. The father holds the TV remote control. This acrylic on canvas 102 x 102 cm painted in 2003 was sold for HK $ 21M iby Sotheby's on April 1, 2019 over a lower estimate of HK $ 4M. The sofa collapses without awakening its sitters : in the same sale, a painting of same date and size was sold for HK $ 20.6M.
The meeting of the Japanese fashion designer Nigo, creator of the clothing line Bape, is decisive for KAWS. A work painted in 2004 on a commission from Nigo shows the same sofa but now the family floats in weightlessness. This 275 x 244 cm acrylic on canvas was sold for HK $ 58M by Sotheby's on October 6, 2019, lot 1136.
Also commissioned by Nigo and painted in 2005, The Kaws Album displays the entire Kimpson family and their neighbors in a compact group that is a second-level appropriation, directly from the Yellow Album of the Simpsons and indirectly from Sgt. Pepper of the Beatles. In the April 1, 2019 auction referred above, this 102 x 102 cm acrylic on canvas was sold for HK $ 116M.
He populates his universe with specific characters, as Disney had done. Like Koons and Murakami, he operates derivative products. His little toys are very popular. The largest of his inflatable dolls reaches 37 m and weighs 40 tons. The eyes in X, as on Haring's characters from beyond grave, are a signature feature of his art.
KAWS re-appropriates fictitious characters recognizable by the general public : Snoopy, Garfield, the Smurfs, Spongebob, Bibendum, and of course the Simpsons who take a parallel life under the name of Kimpsons.
An artwork painted in 2003 shows the Kimpson family sitting on a sofa. The father holds the TV remote control. This acrylic on canvas 102 x 102 cm painted in 2003 was sold for HK $ 21M iby Sotheby's on April 1, 2019 over a lower estimate of HK $ 4M. The sofa collapses without awakening its sitters : in the same sale, a painting of same date and size was sold for HK $ 20.6M.
The meeting of the Japanese fashion designer Nigo, creator of the clothing line Bape, is decisive for KAWS. A work painted in 2004 on a commission from Nigo shows the same sofa but now the family floats in weightlessness. This 275 x 244 cm acrylic on canvas was sold for HK $ 58M by Sotheby's on October 6, 2019, lot 1136.
Also commissioned by Nigo and painted in 2005, The Kaws Album displays the entire Kimpson family and their neighbors in a compact group that is a second-level appropriation, directly from the Yellow Album of the Simpsons and indirectly from Sgt. Pepper of the Beatles. In the April 1, 2019 auction referred above, this 102 x 102 cm acrylic on canvas was sold for HK $ 116M.
2004 PRINCE
1
Nurse in Hollywood
2010 SOLD for $ 6.5M by Phillips de Pury
Painted in 2004, Nurse in Hollywood # 4 was sold for $ 6.5M by Phillips de Pury on May 13, 2010, lot 8. A nurse in close-up bears her cap and mask as if it were a burqa, and starts an insisting look toward the observer. This painting with a numbered suffix, 175 x 107 cm, is certainly a remake of a larger opus.
Painted in 2004, Nurse Kathy may be linked in its theme with the earliest examples of the series, where the woman is softly appealing. Here the young healer is gently downturning her eyes. In this case the medical mask is an addition to the source book cover.
This opus is characterized by color studies including a sort of halo around the head and faint blue unreadable traces of a text on the white overcoat in the follow of Johns or Twombly.
This inkjet and acrylic on canvas 196 x 117 cm was sold for $ 4.9M by Christie's on May 17, 2023, lot 43C.
Painted in 2004, Nurse Kathy may be linked in its theme with the earliest examples of the series, where the woman is softly appealing. Here the young healer is gently downturning her eyes. In this case the medical mask is an addition to the source book cover.
This opus is characterized by color studies including a sort of halo around the head and faint blue unreadable traces of a text on the white overcoat in the follow of Johns or Twombly.
This inkjet and acrylic on canvas 196 x 117 cm was sold for $ 4.9M by Christie's on May 17, 2023, lot 43C.
2
Navy Nurse
2020 SOLD for $ 5.7M by Christie's
A transition to the naughty women of the second part of the series, Navy Nurse has a piercing gaze behind a cascade of blood. She is appropriated by Richard Prince from a 1969 book cover of which her male counterpart has been canceled. The white cloth covering the mouth is an addition by the artist. The inscriptions of the original cover fade behind the figure.
This inkjet and acrylic on canvas 193 x 138 cm executed in 2004 was sold for $ 5.7M from a lower estimate of $ 4M by Christie's on July 10, 2020, lot 73.
This inkjet and acrylic on canvas 193 x 138 cm executed in 2004 was sold for $ 5.7M from a lower estimate of $ 4M by Christie's on July 10, 2020, lot 73.
2002-2004 Eternity by Hirst
2007 SOLD for £ 4.7M by Phillips de Pury
In his exploration of the borderline between life and death, Hirst early included the use of butterfly wings as an additional pictorial material. As early as 1991, he managed to exhibit dead and live insects together. The diversity of the vibrant natural colors brings the effect of a kaleidoscope. Conservationists may dispute the number of specimens required to fill large surfaces.
Dated 2002-2004, Eternity is an early example of the restart of that technique, made of butterflies and thick gloss household paint on canvas 215 x 535 cm. It was sold for £ 4.7M from a lower estimate of £ 2.5M by Phillips de Pury on October 13, 2007, lot 239. Art indeed brought eternity to these thousand of short lived insects.
Made in 2006, one of the largest of his kaleidoscopes of butterflies was sold for £ 2.17M by Christie's on October 14, 2010, lot 17. The vast surface of 213 x 533 cm is filled with two figures of concentric circles made of butterfly wings arranged on a background of thick deep red paint, reminding rose windows in a church. Its title is : I am Become Death, Shatterer of Worlds.
Dated 2002-2004, Eternity is an early example of the restart of that technique, made of butterflies and thick gloss household paint on canvas 215 x 535 cm. It was sold for £ 4.7M from a lower estimate of £ 2.5M by Phillips de Pury on October 13, 2007, lot 239. Art indeed brought eternity to these thousand of short lived insects.
Made in 2006, one of the largest of his kaleidoscopes of butterflies was sold for £ 2.17M by Christie's on October 14, 2010, lot 17. The vast surface of 213 x 533 cm is filled with two figures of concentric circles made of butterfly wings arranged on a background of thick deep red paint, reminding rose windows in a church. Its title is : I am Become Death, Shatterer of Worlds.
