Decade 1990-1999
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Women artists French sculpture Richter Freud Doig UK II Lichtenstein Lichtenstein > 1965 Music and dance Jewels Pink diamond
See also : Women artists French sculpture Richter Freud Doig UK II Lichtenstein Lichtenstein > 1965 Music and dance Jewels Pink diamond
1990 Swamped by Doig
2021 SOLD for $ 40M by Christie's
Peter Doig applies a rich kaleidoscope of colors on large size canvases, assimilating the pictorial inputs of the top masters of his century including Klimt, Pollock and Richter, knowing to mingle figurative and abstract. Questioning and criticizing the role of humanity and its incongruous traces in nature, Doig states an admiration for Hopper.
He caught a prolific inspiration in a still from the 1980 film Friday the 13th, which turns out to have been a nightmare in the following of the story. The picture of the swamp in the moonlight just before or just after the crime already raises the question of humans physically lost within nature.
As for Monet's lily pond, the image includes both the shore and its reflection in water. The lone white empty canoe shifting on the tropical lagoon and its perfect reflection are too sparkling for their light to come only from the moon. This intense internal lighting is meaning that it is the last remaining element from some human civilization.
Swamped, oil on canvas 197 x 241 cm painted in 1990, was sold by Christie's for $ 26M on May 19, 2015, lot 5A, and for $ 40M on November 9, 2021, lot 9A.
On February 7, 2007, Sotheby's sold at lot 7 for £ 5.7M a painting of similar size dated 1990-1991 whose title White Canoe removes the hint to the movie inspiration of the series.
Relying in his own memory, Doig did not take references to other film images in his career. Having grown partly in Ontario, he was possibly also influenced in that canoe series by Tom Thomson's hallucinatory paintings in the Canadian wilderness and his mysterious death in 1917 by drowning in the so called Canoe Lake in that state.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc May 12, 2015
Peter Doig’s Swamped realized $25,925,000 a #worldauctionrecord for the artist
He caught a prolific inspiration in a still from the 1980 film Friday the 13th, which turns out to have been a nightmare in the following of the story. The picture of the swamp in the moonlight just before or just after the crime already raises the question of humans physically lost within nature.
As for Monet's lily pond, the image includes both the shore and its reflection in water. The lone white empty canoe shifting on the tropical lagoon and its perfect reflection are too sparkling for their light to come only from the moon. This intense internal lighting is meaning that it is the last remaining element from some human civilization.
Swamped, oil on canvas 197 x 241 cm painted in 1990, was sold by Christie's for $ 26M on May 19, 2015, lot 5A, and for $ 40M on November 9, 2021, lot 9A.
On February 7, 2007, Sotheby's sold at lot 7 for £ 5.7M a painting of similar size dated 1990-1991 whose title White Canoe removes the hint to the movie inspiration of the series.
Relying in his own memory, Doig did not take references to other film images in his career. Having grown partly in Ontario, he was possibly also influenced in that canoe series by Tom Thomson's hallucinatory paintings in the Canadian wilderness and his mysterious death in 1917 by drowning in the so called Canoe Lake in that state.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc May 12, 2015
Peter Doig’s Swamped realized $25,925,000 a #worldauctionrecord for the artist
- Christie's 2015 post celebrates the $25.9 million sale of Peter Doig's "Swamped," a 1990 oil painting of a spectral white canoe in a murky, forested swamp, inspired by the horror film Friday the 13th and setting a then-record for the artist.
- The artwork's atmospheric style, blending realism and abstraction with reflective waters and looming trees, captures themes of isolation, drawing from Doig's Canadian wilderness experiences.
- "Swamped" resold for $39.9 million at Christie's in 2021, reclaiming Doig's auction record and highlighting sustained market enthusiasm for his evocative landscapes, which have appreciated over 50% since the initial sale.
Abstraktes Bild by RICHTER
1
1993 797-2
2021 SOLD for $ 33M by Sotheby's
Gerhard Richter admitted that the process for his abstract paintings included some unplanned effect to be offset by his ultimate inspection of his creation. In all cases, even in his sublimely chaotic and most sumptuous abstract works, chance followed a detailed preparation adapted for each opus.
The catalogue raisonné for 1993 begins with Grün Blau Rot, a series of no less than 126 oils on canvas 30 x 40 cm continuously numbered in two sub-series from 789-1 to 789-115 and from 789-a to 789-k.
This time consuming task was obviously intended to test the visual effects of detailed forms confronting three basic colors without changing the pigments. The Rot Blau Gelb of 1973, numbered 338-1 to 338-100 in rectangular format and 339-1 to 339-7 in square format, had been a similar experience.
The 1993 green blue red was immediately reused by the artist with the brushes as the background layer in seven large size square paintings. Random effects were added with the squeegee in the desired range of vibrant colors. Richter's tool has here a deconstructing role that cancels forever the intermediate states, same as the drippings for Pollock.
The importance of this process is confirmed by the fact that one of these Abstrakte Bilder was representing Richter's abstractions in the severely selected Macklowe collection. This 797-2, oil on canvas 240 x 240 cm painted in 1993, was sold for $ 33M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 22.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Nov 16, 2021
#AuctionUpdate: Gerhard Richter’s towering ‘Abstraktes Bild’ from 1993 fetches $33M.
The catalogue raisonné for 1993 begins with Grün Blau Rot, a series of no less than 126 oils on canvas 30 x 40 cm continuously numbered in two sub-series from 789-1 to 789-115 and from 789-a to 789-k.
This time consuming task was obviously intended to test the visual effects of detailed forms confronting three basic colors without changing the pigments. The Rot Blau Gelb of 1973, numbered 338-1 to 338-100 in rectangular format and 339-1 to 339-7 in square format, had been a similar experience.
The 1993 green blue red was immediately reused by the artist with the brushes as the background layer in seven large size square paintings. Random effects were added with the squeegee in the desired range of vibrant colors. Richter's tool has here a deconstructing role that cancels forever the intermediate states, same as the drippings for Pollock.
The importance of this process is confirmed by the fact that one of these Abstrakte Bilder was representing Richter's abstractions in the severely selected Macklowe collection. This 797-2, oil on canvas 240 x 240 cm painted in 1993, was sold for $ 33M from a lower estimate of $ 20M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 22.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Nov 16, 2021
#AuctionUpdate: Gerhard Richter’s towering ‘Abstraktes Bild’ from 1993 fetches $33M.
- Sotheby's post highlights the $33 million sale of Gerhard Richter's 1993 oil-on-canvas "Abstraktes Bild (797-2)," a 240x240 cm square abstract featuring layered reds, greens, and blues created via his signature squeegee technique for unpredictable textures.
- The painting sold on November 15, 2021, during the Macklowe Collection auction at Sotheby's New York, which achieved a record $676 million total, reflecting Richter's status as a top living artist with abstracts dominating high-end sales.
- Provenance traces from Marian Goodman Gallery to the Macklowes in 2005; the work toured Australian exhibitions in 1998-2000, embodying Richter's exploration of chance and control in post-war abstraction.
2
1994 809-4
2022 SOLD for $ 36.5M by Christie's
The Abstraktes Bild 809-4 was sold for £ 21.3M by Sotheby's on October 12, 2012, lot 15, and for $ 36.5M by Christie's on May 10, 2022, lot 8 B.
This oil on canvas 225 x 200 cm was painted in 1994 in the period of greater maturity in the abstract art of Gerhard Richter, when his technique of squeegee was fully developed.
With always different and often subtle colors, the horizontal movement of the rake comes in opposition with large vertical streaks. However, the shock of colors is not actually geometric or cleverly dispositioned or allusive of forms. Richter renewed the abstract art without imitating Rothko, or Zao Wou-ki, or Still, and Pollock not either.
Richter's magic is to provide an impression of spontaneity in paintings extensively worked until reaching the emotion intended by the artist. The wording proposed in Sotheby's catalogue of an "exuberant cacophony" is not enough. For the balance of colors and shapes, Richter has indeed the absolute eye.
The abstract world of Richter is the chaos of current time. Musicians enjoy Richter as they enjoy Basquiat. In 2012, 809-4 had been brought to auction by Eric Clapton.
Grok thought about the 2012 sale :
Quote
AP Entertainment @APEntertainment Oct 13, 2023
ON THIS DAY: In 2012, Eric Clapton raised $34.2 million for his Crossroads Centre rehabilitation facility by selling a Gerhard Richter painting from his collection. #OnThisDay
This oil on canvas 225 x 200 cm was painted in 1994 in the period of greater maturity in the abstract art of Gerhard Richter, when his technique of squeegee was fully developed.
With always different and often subtle colors, the horizontal movement of the rake comes in opposition with large vertical streaks. However, the shock of colors is not actually geometric or cleverly dispositioned or allusive of forms. Richter renewed the abstract art without imitating Rothko, or Zao Wou-ki, or Still, and Pollock not either.
Richter's magic is to provide an impression of spontaneity in paintings extensively worked until reaching the emotion intended by the artist. The wording proposed in Sotheby's catalogue of an "exuberant cacophony" is not enough. For the balance of colors and shapes, Richter has indeed the absolute eye.
The abstract world of Richter is the chaos of current time. Musicians enjoy Richter as they enjoy Basquiat. In 2012, 809-4 had been brought to auction by Eric Clapton.
Grok thought about the 2012 sale :
Quote
AP Entertainment @APEntertainment Oct 13, 2023
ON THIS DAY: In 2012, Eric Clapton raised $34.2 million for his Crossroads Centre rehabilitation facility by selling a Gerhard Richter painting from his collection. #OnThisDay
- Eric Clapton's 2012 auction of Gerhard Richter's "Abstraktes Bild (809-4)" fetched $34.2 million at Sotheby's, setting a record for the artist at the time and funding expansions for his Antigua-based Crossroads Centre rehab facility, founded in 1998 amid his personal recovery from decades of substance abuse.
- The painting, acquired by Clapton in 2001 for $3.4 million, appreciated over tenfold in value within 11 years, highlighting Richter's rising market dominance in abstract expressionism, with subsequent sales like Clapton's 2016 Richter piece reaching $22 million.
- Accompanying AP video footage captures the London auction energy, the vibrant green-hued canvas, and Crossroads testimonials, underscoring how Clapton's art patronage intersects with his philanthropy for addiction treatment, having treated over 5,000 patients since inception.
Benefits Supervisor by FREUD
1
1994 Resting
2015 SOLD for $ 56M by Christie's
Relying on his knowledge of art history, Lucian Freud is not like everyone else. His considerations on others are not based on the expression of faces or attitudes but on the smallest details of entirely naked bodies, male and female, which he observes endlessly like a zoologist who has to describe a rare specimen.
Leigh Bowery has been one of his male models since 1988. Leigh is a post-punk dancer, stylist and creator of night clubs. He outrageously exhibits his homosexuality with exuberant make-up, high heels and latex body tights.
In 1990 Leigh invites Lucian to meet Sue Tilley who is benefits supervisor in an employment agency and cashier of one of his clubs in Piccadilly. Sue is 33 years old and weighs about 137 kg. She is an interesting specimen : Lucian considers that her flesh without muscle has generated an unusual texture of the skin, of which he observes all the folds and shadows. In real life her obesity is less visible because the body is held by her clothing.
The first painting had been done in 1993. Sue was lying naked on the floor. Lucian appreciates that this uncomfortable position is not conducive for achieving his goal. He will set a sofa on which Sue can now keep and retrieve a serene position. The repetitive sitting sessions occupy every Saturday and Sunday and sometimes more for several months in a row. The small precise movement of the brush follows a systematic observation of the model, without impulse or emotion, for many hours.
Freud used Sue's professional occupation as a nickname. The second painting, Benefits Supervisor resting, was executed in 1994. This oil on canvas 151 x 161 cm was sold for $ 56M from a lower estimate of $ 30M by Christie's on May 13, 2015, lot 31B. The artist has succeeded. The body is the only subject of this nude painting The folded legs accentuate the swellings. The head head thrown backwards has no other role than to ensure the stability of the attitude.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc May 14, 2015
Lucian Freud’s Benefits Supervisor Resting realized $56,165,000, a #worldauctionrecord for the artist.
Leigh Bowery has been one of his male models since 1988. Leigh is a post-punk dancer, stylist and creator of night clubs. He outrageously exhibits his homosexuality with exuberant make-up, high heels and latex body tights.
In 1990 Leigh invites Lucian to meet Sue Tilley who is benefits supervisor in an employment agency and cashier of one of his clubs in Piccadilly. Sue is 33 years old and weighs about 137 kg. She is an interesting specimen : Lucian considers that her flesh without muscle has generated an unusual texture of the skin, of which he observes all the folds and shadows. In real life her obesity is less visible because the body is held by her clothing.
The first painting had been done in 1993. Sue was lying naked on the floor. Lucian appreciates that this uncomfortable position is not conducive for achieving his goal. He will set a sofa on which Sue can now keep and retrieve a serene position. The repetitive sitting sessions occupy every Saturday and Sunday and sometimes more for several months in a row. The small precise movement of the brush follows a systematic observation of the model, without impulse or emotion, for many hours.
Freud used Sue's professional occupation as a nickname. The second painting, Benefits Supervisor resting, was executed in 1994. This oil on canvas 151 x 161 cm was sold for $ 56M from a lower estimate of $ 30M by Christie's on May 13, 2015, lot 31B. The artist has succeeded. The body is the only subject of this nude painting The folded legs accentuate the swellings. The head head thrown backwards has no other role than to ensure the stability of the attitude.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc May 14, 2015
Lucian Freud’s Benefits Supervisor Resting realized $56,165,000, a #worldauctionrecord for the artist.
- Christie's 2015 post celebrates the $56.165 million sale of Lucian Freud's "Benefits Supervisor Resting," a life-sized nude of civil servant Sue Tilley that shattered the artist's prior auction record.
- The painting, known for its unflinching portrayal of Tilley's 280-pound form on a worn sofa, exemplifies Freud's raw style and drew bids far exceeding its $30-50 million estimate.
- This record stood until 2022, when another Freud canvas sold for $86.27 million, underscoring sustained demand for his psychologically intense figurative works.
2
1995 Sleeping
2008 SOLD for $ 33.6M by Christie's
Benefits Supervisor sleeping, oil on canvas 151 x 219 cm painted in 1995, was sold for $ 33.6M by Christie's on May 13, 2008, lot 37.
The body is reclining on the sofa with an acceptable head position on a cushion, probably at the request of the model, bringing a better impression of quiet intimacy. Please watch Christie's interview with Sue Tilley beside this painting before the sale.
Leigh Bowery had died of AIDS in December 1994. Sue Tilley will publish a biography of him in 1997.
Grok thought :
Quote
ZenYogiZen @GeoffreyGo94064 Jul 15
Always been a fan of Lucian Freud. "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping." - 1995. "It's flesh without muscle & it has developed a different kind of texture through bearing such a weight-bearing thing." Last time sold it set a record for a living artist £17.2m. Buyer paid by weight.
The body is reclining on the sofa with an acceptable head position on a cushion, probably at the request of the model, bringing a better impression of quiet intimacy. Please watch Christie's interview with Sue Tilley beside this painting before the sale.
Leigh Bowery had died of AIDS in December 1994. Sue Tilley will publish a biography of him in 1997.
Grok thought :
Quote
ZenYogiZen @GeoffreyGo94064 Jul 15
Always been a fan of Lucian Freud. "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping." - 1995. "It's flesh without muscle & it has developed a different kind of texture through bearing such a weight-bearing thing." Last time sold it set a record for a living artist £17.2m. Buyer paid by weight.
- The post shares an image of Lucian Freud's 1995 oil painting "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping," depicting civil servant Sue Tilley in a raw, unidealized nude pose on a worn sofa, capturing Freud's signature thick impasto technique that took over 16 months to complete.
- Freud, grandson of Sigmund Freud, described Tilley's form as "flesh without muscle" with a unique texture from "bearing such a weight-bearing thing," emphasizing his focus on psychological depth and physical reality over conventional beauty in his late-career nudes.
- Sold at Christie's in 2008 for £17.2 million ($33.6 million), it held the record for the highest price paid for a living artist's work until 2015; the post's quip about the buyer "paying by weight" nods to Tilley's plus-sized figure, adding wry humor to the artwork's bold body positivity.
LICHTENSTEIN
1
1994 Nude with Joyous Painting
2020 SOLD for $ 46M by Christie's
Roy Lichtenstein appropriates images edited or painted by others. By transforming them, he brings another meaning that can be the opposite. The enlargement from a comic maintains the simplicity of the lines which was important for the legibility of the tiny original. He reaches the basics of art, without verbiage and without losing his humor.
Roy also offers his vision of art history. He likes the pure lines of the naked bodies in La Danse by Matisse. Painted in 1974, Artist's Studio - The Dance exhibits that masterpiece of the other artist on the back wall, behind a big mess. On the right side, a truncated image shows some musical notes on a stave.
In 1994 Roy restarts one of his signature themes : the young woman copied from a comic panel, colored with dots that mimic printing patterns. Henceforth the woman is nude, sometimes in the presence of another naked woman, never with a man.
Nude with Joyous Painting, oil and acrylic 178 x 135 cm painted in 1994 was sold for $ 46M from an estimate in the region of $ 30M by Christie's on July 10, 2020, lot 58. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In the comic book, the pretty blonde had a love sorrow. Now she is naked and the explanatory text is no longer available : she is simply waiting for something undefined which is probably not a partner. She may be finishing her washing after putting a headband.
The joyous painting announced by the title is the image of a musical stave in volutes, as in the pastiche of La Danse. This musical symbol brings a nice atmosphere of innocent intimacy.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Jul 10, 2020
#AuctionUpdate #RoyLichtenstein’s masterful late work, Nude with Joyous Painting achieves $46,242,500
Roy also offers his vision of art history. He likes the pure lines of the naked bodies in La Danse by Matisse. Painted in 1974, Artist's Studio - The Dance exhibits that masterpiece of the other artist on the back wall, behind a big mess. On the right side, a truncated image shows some musical notes on a stave.
In 1994 Roy restarts one of his signature themes : the young woman copied from a comic panel, colored with dots that mimic printing patterns. Henceforth the woman is nude, sometimes in the presence of another naked woman, never with a man.
Nude with Joyous Painting, oil and acrylic 178 x 135 cm painted in 1994 was sold for $ 46M from an estimate in the region of $ 30M by Christie's on July 10, 2020, lot 58. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
In the comic book, the pretty blonde had a love sorrow. Now she is naked and the explanatory text is no longer available : she is simply waiting for something undefined which is probably not a partner. She may be finishing her washing after putting a headband.
The joyous painting announced by the title is the image of a musical stave in volutes, as in the pastiche of La Danse. This musical symbol brings a nice atmosphere of innocent intimacy.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Jul 10, 2020
#AuctionUpdate #RoyLichtenstein’s masterful late work, Nude with Joyous Painting achieves $46,242,500
- Christie's post celebrates the $46.2 million hammer price for Roy Lichtenstein's 1994 "Nude with Joyous Painting," a 70-by-53-inch oil and Magna canvas that headlined their July 2020 online relay auction amid COVID-19 restrictions.
- The work belongs to Lichtenstein's Nudes series (1993–1997), which adapts 1960s comic book panels—here from DC's "Surfing Girl"—into abstracted female figures, fusing pop art's irony with Picasso-inspired distortions.
- Provenance from Leo Castelli Gallery to private collections highlights its market prestige, as the sale ranked among Lichtenstein's top auction results, reflecting sustained demand for his late-period innovations.
2
1996 Seductive Girl
2013 SOLD for $ 31.5M by Christie's
In 1993, when Roy Lichtenstein focuses on the female nude, he actually starts two different lines of images. In one of them, the woman is nude in her apartment, busy in her daily activities. The other set shows her in bust, centered in a bold close-up composition where the frame is cutting hair, arms and lower breast.
Same as Munch, Lichtenstein is a great picture maker who prepares prints. Prints from his later career, after almost twenty years, regularly appear on the market. A printed copy of the 1994 nude with blue hair, 130 x 80 cm, was sold for $ 320K by Christie's on October 30, 2013.
The paintings on this theme are still rare at auction. A Seductive Girl painted on canvas in 1996, 127 x 183 cm, was sold for $ 31.5M from a lower estimate $ 22M by Christie's on November 12, 2013.
This pretty blonde on her bed is a sister of the young women painted by Roy thirty years earlier after copying images in the comic books. Her texture is also composed of colored dots more or less densely arranged for bringing the perspective.
Unlike her former friends, she is naked. As usual with Roy, this modern young woman establishes a communication with the viewer, but for once she is not troubled but troubling. She gently seduces the old Roy.
This creative impulse was unfortunately stopped in the following year by the sudden death of Roy, aged 74.
Grok thought :
Quote
New York Times Arts @nytimesarts Nov 13, 2013
Photo: Roy Lichtenstein's "Seductive Girl" is auctioned at Christie's for $31,525,000 http://nyti.ms/17t5fix
Same as Munch, Lichtenstein is a great picture maker who prepares prints. Prints from his later career, after almost twenty years, regularly appear on the market. A printed copy of the 1994 nude with blue hair, 130 x 80 cm, was sold for $ 320K by Christie's on October 30, 2013.
The paintings on this theme are still rare at auction. A Seductive Girl painted on canvas in 1996, 127 x 183 cm, was sold for $ 31.5M from a lower estimate $ 22M by Christie's on November 12, 2013.
This pretty blonde on her bed is a sister of the young women painted by Roy thirty years earlier after copying images in the comic books. Her texture is also composed of colored dots more or less densely arranged for bringing the perspective.
Unlike her former friends, she is naked. As usual with Roy, this modern young woman establishes a communication with the viewer, but for once she is not troubled but troubling. She gently seduces the old Roy.
This creative impulse was unfortunately stopped in the following year by the sudden death of Roy, aged 74.
Grok thought :
Quote
New York Times Arts @nytimesarts Nov 13, 2013
Photo: Roy Lichtenstein's "Seductive Girl" is auctioned at Christie's for $31,525,000 http://nyti.ms/17t5fix
- Roy Lichtenstein's 1996 pop art painting "Seductive Girl," from his late "Nudes" series, fetched $31.5 million at Christie's November 12, 2013, auction, exceeding its $22-28 million estimate amid a postwar art boom.
- The work depicts a confident, stylized female figure in bold primaries and Ben-Day dots, blending comic-book eroticism with abstracted form to subvert 1960s media tropes on femininity.
- This sale marked the fifth-highest for Lichtenstein at the time, powering Christie's record $691 million total that night, driven by anonymous phone bidders in a pre-Bacon triptych frenzy.
Spider by BOURGEOIS
Intro
Louise Bourgeois desired to interpret her relationship with her own parents, generating a suffering that she appeased by her art at the borderline of sexual provocation. From 1951 to 1980 she tries a psychoanalysis. It is a failure : she considers that Freud does not propose anything for the artists.
She left many writings about her own art but it remains difficult to find the key. The relationship between sex and family, the position of the child within the family cell, are the highly traumatic guides to her creativity. Until 98 years old, she will be an activist in support to all the sexual minorities.
Within her old age, Louise Bourgeois remained hypersensitive to sexual ambiguity and sexual promiscuity. On October 15, 2015, Sotheby's sold for £ 1.2M a showcase realized in 2001 titled Mother and child, exhibiting a limp infant on the nude torso of a woman like some externalization of pregnancy. The carefully carved body of Bourgeois's spiders is a further female carnal symbol.
The world of a real spider is certainly of high complexity. It (she) is patient, steady in the center of her web which she builds and efficiently repairs after a destruction. The polygon of her eight legs offers a shelter for her loved ones, but she is also a fierce predator to the insects. Her small size makes her vulnerable but the artist will enlarge it to make her the towering star of a dehumanized parallel universe.
The spider is not a vertebrate and her behavioral psychology is inaccessible. The spider does not look like us, yet we share the planet with it. Good worker, it tirelessly endeavors to create and repair its web. It disturbs us and has no face, and we interpret it as a threat. This is unfair : the spider protects our health by catching and eating the mosquitoes.
By choosing this beast as a symbol of motherhood, Louise Bourgeois is not an artist of animals but indeed a highly disturbing surrealist artist in the line of Wifredo Lam.
The spider symbolizes her own beloved nurturing mother who had died six decades earlier. The high legs provide a shelter. Their slimness is a technical achievement, like the thread of the spider which is of extreme strength considering its size. Some of them have a dressed body, also recalling the memory of the mother whose job was to repair tapestries. Louise's mother was indeed a weaver, like a spider.
In 1994 she builds a small steel spider 28 cm high which carries marble eggs in a bag under its body. This sculpture, one of the first by Bourgeois on this theme, passed at Sotheby's on November 11, 2015.
In 1995, at the age of 84, she suddenly understands that the spider's maternal function will solve her fantasies. She sculpts new steel spiders and edits them in bronze, in various configurations : lowered body for climbing on the wall or raised on its tall thin legs.
The perimeter of the legs is the safety zone offered by the mother to her offspring. The comparison with the Lupa Capitolina suckling Romulus and Remus is relevant. The spiders of Louise Bourgeois personify her own mother, too frail but intensely protective.
The gigantic dimension of the sculptures, culminating in 1999 with a 10 m high Maman, solves this contradiction. Maman carries her eggs as in the original spider five years earlier.
She left many writings about her own art but it remains difficult to find the key. The relationship between sex and family, the position of the child within the family cell, are the highly traumatic guides to her creativity. Until 98 years old, she will be an activist in support to all the sexual minorities.
Within her old age, Louise Bourgeois remained hypersensitive to sexual ambiguity and sexual promiscuity. On October 15, 2015, Sotheby's sold for £ 1.2M a showcase realized in 2001 titled Mother and child, exhibiting a limp infant on the nude torso of a woman like some externalization of pregnancy. The carefully carved body of Bourgeois's spiders is a further female carnal symbol.
The world of a real spider is certainly of high complexity. It (she) is patient, steady in the center of her web which she builds and efficiently repairs after a destruction. The polygon of her eight legs offers a shelter for her loved ones, but she is also a fierce predator to the insects. Her small size makes her vulnerable but the artist will enlarge it to make her the towering star of a dehumanized parallel universe.
The spider is not a vertebrate and her behavioral psychology is inaccessible. The spider does not look like us, yet we share the planet with it. Good worker, it tirelessly endeavors to create and repair its web. It disturbs us and has no face, and we interpret it as a threat. This is unfair : the spider protects our health by catching and eating the mosquitoes.
By choosing this beast as a symbol of motherhood, Louise Bourgeois is not an artist of animals but indeed a highly disturbing surrealist artist in the line of Wifredo Lam.
The spider symbolizes her own beloved nurturing mother who had died six decades earlier. The high legs provide a shelter. Their slimness is a technical achievement, like the thread of the spider which is of extreme strength considering its size. Some of them have a dressed body, also recalling the memory of the mother whose job was to repair tapestries. Louise's mother was indeed a weaver, like a spider.
In 1994 she builds a small steel spider 28 cm high which carries marble eggs in a bag under its body. This sculpture, one of the first by Bourgeois on this theme, passed at Sotheby's on November 11, 2015.
In 1995, at the age of 84, she suddenly understands that the spider's maternal function will solve her fantasies. She sculpts new steel spiders and edits them in bronze, in various configurations : lowered body for climbing on the wall or raised on its tall thin legs.
The perimeter of the legs is the safety zone offered by the mother to her offspring. The comparison with the Lupa Capitolina suckling Romulus and Remus is relevant. The spiders of Louise Bourgeois personify her own mother, too frail but intensely protective.
The gigantic dimension of the sculptures, culminating in 1999 with a 10 m high Maman, solves this contradiction. Maman carries her eggs as in the original spider five years earlier.
1
1996
2023 SOLD for $ 33M by Sotheby's
Largest Bourgeois's spiders have a remarkable feature : this figurative sculpture can be viewed from inside by a tall standing person. He or she admires its graceful arches. An abstract precedent was with Calder's monumental stabiles.
A Spider 340 x 670 x 630 cm was cast in bronze in six copies. Its artist's proof is in steel. One of the eight leg's ends is curved as to catch a prey.
The number 1/6 was cast in January 1996. and immediately exhibited in a San Francisco gallery. It was sold for $ 33M by Sotheby's on May 18, 2023, lot 105. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Apr 24, 2023
With chilling grandeur, Louise Bourgeois’ 1996 ‘Spider’—coming to auction for the first time in May at #SothbysNewYork—represents her singular contribution to the history of Modern art. Discover more: https://bit.ly/3L1Xp5m
A Spider 340 x 670 x 630 cm was cast in bronze in six copies. Its artist's proof is in steel. One of the eight leg's ends is curved as to catch a prey.
The number 1/6 was cast in January 1996. and immediately exhibited in a San Francisco gallery. It was sold for $ 33M by Sotheby's on May 18, 2023, lot 105. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Apr 24, 2023
With chilling grandeur, Louise Bourgeois’ 1996 ‘Spider’—coming to auction for the first time in May at #SothbysNewYork—represents her singular contribution to the history of Modern art. Discover more: https://bit.ly/3L1Xp5m
- Sotheby's post promotes Louise Bourgeois' monumental 1996 bronze 'Spider' sculpture—symbolizing maternal protection and her mother's weaving legacy—for its first auction appearance, acquired that year by Fundação Itaú in São Paulo.
- The 10-foot-tall edition 1/6 sold for a record $32.8 million on May 18, 2023, at Sotheby's New York, surpassing estimates and boosting the contemporary sale to $167.5 million total.
- The video features abstract, shadowy spider imagery transitioning into "MOTHER, of all" text overlays, poetically capturing Bourgeois' exploration of resilience and familial bonds in modern art.
2
1997
2019 SOLD for $ 32M by Christie's
A spider 3.26 m high on a 7.56 x 7.06 m overall perimeter designed in 1996 was sculpted in steel and cast in bronze in 1997 in six copies plus one artist's proof and one variant in bronze.
The 2/6 was sold for $ 32M from a lower is estimated $ 25M by Christie's on May 15, 2019, lot 21 B.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc May 16, 2019
Louise Bourgeois's 'Spider' realizes $32,055,000 at auction, setting a new #WorldAuctionRecord for the artist https://bit.ly/2JGa8MR
The 2/6 was sold for $ 32M from a lower is estimated $ 25M by Christie's on May 15, 2019, lot 21 B.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc May 16, 2019
Louise Bourgeois's 'Spider' realizes $32,055,000 at auction, setting a new #WorldAuctionRecord for the artist https://bit.ly/2JGa8MR
- Christie's 2019 post celebrates the $32 million sale of Louise Bourgeois's bronze sculpture "Spider" (1997), a 10-foot-tall work from her iconic arachnid series symbolizing maternal protection and psychological tension, which set an auction record for the artist at the time.
- The sculpture, one of several casts from an edition, features elongated bronze legs and a clustered body evoking vulnerability, drawing from Bourgeois's personal history as explored in her confessional feminist art.
- This record was surpassed in 2023 when another "Spider" cast sold for $32.8 million at Sotheby's, highlighting the enduring market demand for Bourgeois's late-career sculptures amid rising values for women artists.
1999 The Pink Star by De Beers
2013 hammered at CHF 76M including premium by Sotheby's, UNPAID
2017 SOLD for HK$ 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.
Pink Star history
The Pink Star, originally known as the Steinmetz Pink, is a remarkable 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut diamond (featuring a step-cut crown and brilliant-cut pavilion), graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) as Fancy Vivid Pink—the highest color saturation for pink diamonds—with Internally Flawless clarity and classified as Type IIa, denoting exceptional chemical purity and structural perfection. Pink diamonds derive their rare hue from plastic deformation in the crystal lattice during formation deep in the Earth's mantle, and the Pink Star stands out for its large size, intense color, and lack of secondary hues, making it one of the most valuable gems in history.
The diamond was mined by De Beers in South Africa in 1999 as a 132.5-carat rough stone, though exact mine details remain undisclosed in public records. Acquired by the Steinmetz Diamond Group, it underwent an intensive 20-month cutting and polishing process—a meticulous effort involving the removal of over half its rough weight to maximize color intensity and brilliance while achieving flawless clarity. The finished gem was unveiled in Monaco on May 29, 2003, initially named the Steinmetz Pink in honor of its cutters.
Shortly after, it gained public prominence when featured in the Smithsonian Institution's "The Splendor of Diamonds" exhibit in Washington, D.C., alongside other iconic stones like the De Beers Millennium Star (203.04 carats), the Heart of Eternity (27.64 carats), and the Moussaieff Red (5.11 carats). By 2007, it was renamed the Pink Star, entering a period of private ownership with limited public exposure until its auction debut.
The Pink Star made headlines on November 13, 2013, at Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale in Geneva, where it fetched a then-record $83 million (CHF 76.325 million including fees) after intense bidding, surpassing the previous auction high set by the Graff Pink diamond. The buyer, New York diamond cutter Isaac Wolf, promptly renamed it the Pink Dream, but he defaulted on payment, leading Sotheby's to reclaim the stone under a guarantee agreement and void the sale.
It resurfaced on April 4, 2017, at Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite auction in Hong Kong, where it sold for $71.2 million (HK$553,037,500 including fees) to Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, a Hong Kong-based jewelry conglomerate, in a bidding war that lasted about five minutes. This price re-established it as the most expensive diamond or jewel ever sold at auction, a record it holds as of January 2026, and marked the highest value for any item sold at auction in Asia at the time. Chow Tai Fook renamed it the CTF Pink Star in tribute to the company's founder, Chow Tai Fook, and its initials, and it has remained in their private collection since, with no subsequent sales, public exhibitions, or notable events reported through 2026. The diamond's journey underscores the escalating demand for rare colored diamonds, often viewed as alternative investments amid market volatility.
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.
Pink Star history
The Pink Star, originally known as the Steinmetz Pink, is a remarkable 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut diamond (featuring a step-cut crown and brilliant-cut pavilion), graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) as Fancy Vivid Pink—the highest color saturation for pink diamonds—with Internally Flawless clarity and classified as Type IIa, denoting exceptional chemical purity and structural perfection. Pink diamonds derive their rare hue from plastic deformation in the crystal lattice during formation deep in the Earth's mantle, and the Pink Star stands out for its large size, intense color, and lack of secondary hues, making it one of the most valuable gems in history.
The diamond was mined by De Beers in South Africa in 1999 as a 132.5-carat rough stone, though exact mine details remain undisclosed in public records. Acquired by the Steinmetz Diamond Group, it underwent an intensive 20-month cutting and polishing process—a meticulous effort involving the removal of over half its rough weight to maximize color intensity and brilliance while achieving flawless clarity. The finished gem was unveiled in Monaco on May 29, 2003, initially named the Steinmetz Pink in honor of its cutters.
Shortly after, it gained public prominence when featured in the Smithsonian Institution's "The Splendor of Diamonds" exhibit in Washington, D.C., alongside other iconic stones like the De Beers Millennium Star (203.04 carats), the Heart of Eternity (27.64 carats), and the Moussaieff Red (5.11 carats). By 2007, it was renamed the Pink Star, entering a period of private ownership with limited public exposure until its auction debut.
The Pink Star made headlines on November 13, 2013, at Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale in Geneva, where it fetched a then-record $83 million (CHF 76.325 million including fees) after intense bidding, surpassing the previous auction high set by the Graff Pink diamond. The buyer, New York diamond cutter Isaac Wolf, promptly renamed it the Pink Dream, but he defaulted on payment, leading Sotheby's to reclaim the stone under a guarantee agreement and void the sale.
It resurfaced on April 4, 2017, at Sotheby's Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite auction in Hong Kong, where it sold for $71.2 million (HK$553,037,500 including fees) to Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, a Hong Kong-based jewelry conglomerate, in a bidding war that lasted about five minutes. This price re-established it as the most expensive diamond or jewel ever sold at auction, a record it holds as of January 2026, and marked the highest value for any item sold at auction in Asia at the time. Chow Tai Fook renamed it the CTF Pink Star in tribute to the company's founder, Chow Tai Fook, and its initials, and it has remained in their private collection since, with no subsequent sales, public exhibitions, or notable events reported through 2026. The diamond's journey underscores the escalating demand for rare colored diamonds, often viewed as alternative investments 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
