Decade 2000-2009
See also : Jewels Pink diamond African diamonds Freud Sculpture Koons Twombly Japan Tabletop Bouquet Animals UK II New Chinese painting Mountains in China British Royals
2000 Celebration and Joy with Jeff Koons
2013 SOLD 58 M$ including premium
The series of the "Celebrations" was designed by Jeff Koons in 1994. The first themes, in five monochrome sculptures each made in a different color, cover universal symbols. Their monumental size invites to exhibition in prestigious locations. The perfect mirror of the surface is a technical feat.
Two specimens of the Balloon Flower were auctioned : £ 12.9 million including premium for the magenta by Christie's on 30 June 2008, $ 16.9 million including premium for the blue on 10 November 2010 also by Christie's.
Same as for the Balloon Flower, the Balloon Dog is an assembly of rounded shapes that reflect their environment in all directions. Looking more like a toy than like the animal that could serve as a model, it appears as a symbol of happy childhood. The bright orange specimen is joyful.
Koons also wanted this series to be a break from traditional art and designated his Balloon Dog as a Trojan horse. Almost twenty years later, the prestige of the series shows that he was right.
Balloon Dog (Orange) is estimated $ 35M for sale by Christie 's in New York on November 12. Measuring 307 x 363 x 114 cm, this sculpture was completed in 2000.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This remarkably cheerful artwork was introduced by Christie's as an icon of contemporary art. It was sold for $ 58M including premium.
Two specimens of the Balloon Flower were auctioned : £ 12.9 million including premium for the magenta by Christie's on 30 June 2008, $ 16.9 million including premium for the blue on 10 November 2010 also by Christie's.
Same as for the Balloon Flower, the Balloon Dog is an assembly of rounded shapes that reflect their environment in all directions. Looking more like a toy than like the animal that could serve as a model, it appears as a symbol of happy childhood. The bright orange specimen is joyful.
Koons also wanted this series to be a break from traditional art and designated his Balloon Dog as a Trojan horse. Almost twenty years later, the prestige of the series shows that he was right.
Balloon Dog (Orange) is estimated $ 35M for sale by Christie 's in New York on November 12. Measuring 307 x 363 x 114 cm, this sculpture was completed in 2000.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This remarkably cheerful artwork was introduced by Christie's as an icon of contemporary art. It was sold for $ 58M including premium.
2000 The Threat of the Millennials
2019 SOLD for HK$ 196M including premium
In 2000 Yoshitomo Nara returns to Japan after twelve years in Germany. His style changes. The heads of little girls are replaced by full length standing portraits. The dimensions of the works increase, the outlines are less black and pastel hues soften the image.
Yoshitomo Nara does not want his art to be political. Yet it was in 2000, inspired by his recent visit to Auschwitz. The children of this era are already the Millennials, who desire to influence the evolution of the world against dangers which they cannot analyze and even less control. The titles transcribe this imaginary revolt : Last warrior subtitled The Unknown soldier, The Little ambassador.
Knife behind back is one of the strongest messages, increased by a bird's eye view without a visible surrounding. The mouth is severe and stubborn. The right hand is hidden, justifying the interpretation of the title as a threat. This 234 x 208 cm acrylic on canvas will be sold on October 6 by Sotheby's in Hong Kong, lot 1142.
The other two examples referred above, also painted in 2000, are taken from auction history. The Little ambassador, 198 x 132 cm, was sold for HK $ 24M including premium by Sotheby's on October 2, 2016. Last warrior, 165 x 150 cm, was sold for HK $ 21.7M including premium by Phillips on May 28, 2017 .
This Japanese girl is contemporary with the invention of emoji. The suggestion of a hidden object is a fruitful idea. The character soon loses his aggressiveness and smiles gently. Right hand in back, acrylic on a 180 cm circular canvas painted in 2002 and mounted on fiberglass, was sold for $ 2.17M including premium by Sotheby's on November 17, 2017.
Yoshitomo Nara does not want his art to be political. Yet it was in 2000, inspired by his recent visit to Auschwitz. The children of this era are already the Millennials, who desire to influence the evolution of the world against dangers which they cannot analyze and even less control. The titles transcribe this imaginary revolt : Last warrior subtitled The Unknown soldier, The Little ambassador.
Knife behind back is one of the strongest messages, increased by a bird's eye view without a visible surrounding. The mouth is severe and stubborn. The right hand is hidden, justifying the interpretation of the title as a threat. This 234 x 208 cm acrylic on canvas will be sold on October 6 by Sotheby's in Hong Kong, lot 1142.
The other two examples referred above, also painted in 2000, are taken from auction history. The Little ambassador, 198 x 132 cm, was sold for HK $ 24M including premium by Sotheby's on October 2, 2016. Last warrior, 165 x 150 cm, was sold for HK $ 21.7M including premium by Phillips on May 28, 2017 .
This Japanese girl is contemporary with the invention of emoji. The suggestion of a hidden object is a fruitful idea. The character soon loses his aggressiveness and smiles gently. Right hand in back, acrylic on a 180 cm circular canvas painted in 2002 and mounted on fiberglass, was sold for $ 2.17M including premium by Sotheby's on November 17, 2017.
2001 The Traitor with the Yellow Tie
2013 SOLD 180 MHK$ including premium
The mask in the series of paintings by Zeng Fanzhi is used to express what is artificial in the integration of young Chinese into globalization.
The mask is worn by a single character or by all characters in a group. In the latter case, the political message of the artist becomes stronger and more readable.
On 24 May 2008, Christie's sold HK $ 75M including premium Mask Series 1996 No. 6, oil on canvas 200 x 360 cm. Eight Chinese are aligned and facing the viewer as happy members of a winning sports team. The smile is an effect brought by the mask, but the red scarf recalls the harsh realities of their social condition.
On October 5 in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sells The Last Supper. This oil on canvas was painted in 2001 in large format, 220 x 400 cm. This is in some way the political and artistic culmination of the entire Mask series, and the auction house expects more than HK $ 80M. The artwork comes from the Ullens collection. It is illustrated on the release shared by ArtDaily.
It is a remake of Leonardo's Last Supper. Behind the masks, the thirteen characters are young Chinese, still recognizable by their red scarves. The traitor has no scarf but a golden tie. He has already decided to imitate the West and sell himself to capitalists.
The next step could be a question: who is right between the twelve traditionalists and the traitor, regarding the development of contemporary Chinese civilization?
POST SALE COMMENT
Introduced as the culmination of the first part of Zeng's career, this painting was sold for HK $ 180M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
The mask is worn by a single character or by all characters in a group. In the latter case, the political message of the artist becomes stronger and more readable.
On 24 May 2008, Christie's sold HK $ 75M including premium Mask Series 1996 No. 6, oil on canvas 200 x 360 cm. Eight Chinese are aligned and facing the viewer as happy members of a winning sports team. The smile is an effect brought by the mask, but the red scarf recalls the harsh realities of their social condition.
On October 5 in Hong Kong, Sotheby's sells The Last Supper. This oil on canvas was painted in 2001 in large format, 220 x 400 cm. This is in some way the political and artistic culmination of the entire Mask series, and the auction house expects more than HK $ 80M. The artwork comes from the Ullens collection. It is illustrated on the release shared by ArtDaily.
It is a remake of Leonardo's Last Supper. Behind the masks, the thirteen characters are young Chinese, still recognizable by their red scarves. The traitor has no scarf but a golden tie. He has already decided to imitate the West and sell himself to capitalists.
The next step could be a question: who is right between the twelve traditionalists and the traitor, regarding the development of contemporary Chinese civilization?
POST SALE COMMENT
Introduced as the culmination of the first part of Zeng's career, this painting was sold for HK $ 180M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
2002 Hockney by Freud
2021 SOLD for £ 15M by Sotheby's
The portraiture by Lucian Freud is unprecedented and one of a kind. He manages to offer to the viewer an intimacy with the sitter, including with himself. A male or female nudity gets rid of man-made artifacts, providing another entry into the soul.
In the portrait heads of their friends, Freud and Bacon had an opposite approach. Bacon relied on photos without the physical presence of his model. Freud caught the model in interminable sessions in his studio during several months. He had to overcome his or her impatience by his chat, made of wit and gossip. He is a Western Scheherazade. Famously, by temperament, Bacon could not play that game. His portrait by Freud in 1957 was left unfinished.
Freud could indeed not use photos. He was peering through repeated close up inspections all the dissymmetries, stains and defects of the skin, on the face and on the nude body. He added layer over layer without erasing up to a deep impasto, creating a sort of paint sculpture on the canvas.
Viewed in photo without that tridimensional effect, the face lines are harsh. In a 2002 picture, Kate Moss does not look like a 28 year old supermodel. A figure by Freud is impersonating without being realistic. This Naked Portrait in pregnancy was sold for £ 3.9M by Christie's on February 9, 2005, lot 28.
Also in 2002, Freud added David Hockney to his sequence of head portraits of friends. At nearly 80, Freud was at the culmination of his signature style. Hockney was 65. His gaze is penetrating and he his ready to add his contribution to the talking. The spectacles were necessary but not so important : Freud added them at the last session. As an artist, Hockney later made clever comment about that experience and on the artistic practice of Lucian Freud.
This 41 x 31 cm oil on canvas bigger than life size was sold for £ 15M from a lower estimate of £ 8M by Sotheby's on June 29, 2021, lot 10. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
In the portrait heads of their friends, Freud and Bacon had an opposite approach. Bacon relied on photos without the physical presence of his model. Freud caught the model in interminable sessions in his studio during several months. He had to overcome his or her impatience by his chat, made of wit and gossip. He is a Western Scheherazade. Famously, by temperament, Bacon could not play that game. His portrait by Freud in 1957 was left unfinished.
Freud could indeed not use photos. He was peering through repeated close up inspections all the dissymmetries, stains and defects of the skin, on the face and on the nude body. He added layer over layer without erasing up to a deep impasto, creating a sort of paint sculpture on the canvas.
Viewed in photo without that tridimensional effect, the face lines are harsh. In a 2002 picture, Kate Moss does not look like a 28 year old supermodel. A figure by Freud is impersonating without being realistic. This Naked Portrait in pregnancy was sold for £ 3.9M by Christie's on February 9, 2005, lot 28.
Also in 2002, Freud added David Hockney to his sequence of head portraits of friends. At nearly 80, Freud was at the culmination of his signature style. Hockney was 65. His gaze is penetrating and he his ready to add his contribution to the talking. The spectacles were necessary but not so important : Freud added them at the last session. As an artist, Hockney later made clever comment about that experience and on the artistic practice of Lucian Freud.
This 41 x 31 cm oil on canvas bigger than life size was sold for £ 15M from a lower estimate of £ 8M by Sotheby's on June 29, 2021, lot 10. Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
2002-2003 The New Andromeda
2018 SOLD for £ 22.5M including premium
Since the death of Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud was the most outstanding living British artist. This role seems difficult to play. For several years he relentlessly uses the permanent access to the National Gallery granted to him by its management to re-examine ancient art.
In 2002 the Tate Gallery organizes a major retrospective displayed in nine rooms according to the chronology of his art. The conclusion of this journey is Freud's statement on the nude. He considers clothes like a façade that hides instincts and desires. He wants to see his models as physically comfortable as animals.
The links are also close with the Wallace Collection which wishes to organize an exhibition dedicated to Lucian Freud's recent works. This museum has one of the most beautiful female nudes by Titian, in Perseus and Andromeda. The nudes by Freud will have to be at a comparable level. He is looking for his Andromeda.
He finds Sophie who works for Tate Publishing. She is tall and slim with long legs. Titian's Andromeda is standing with one arm raised for anchoring to the rock. Freud knows that his reclining nudes are typical in his art. He puts Sophie on the bed with a raised arm, in full nudity.
Portrait on a white cover, oil on canvas 117 x 143 cm, is painted by Freud in 2002-2003 and will be exhibited at the Wallace Collection in May 2004. This painting is estimated £ 17M for sale by Sotheby's in London on June 26, lot 6.
With family and friends the old artist still knew how to maintain a naked person in confidence, specially through his famous chatter. Julie and Martin painted in 2001 is a good example, sold for $ 17M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2014. With Sophie, chosen by Freud for her Andromeda body, it does not go as well. The sleeping nude of the Portrait on a white cover has clenched fingers in both hands and the artist obsessed with realism did not make them flexible.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
In 2002 the Tate Gallery organizes a major retrospective displayed in nine rooms according to the chronology of his art. The conclusion of this journey is Freud's statement on the nude. He considers clothes like a façade that hides instincts and desires. He wants to see his models as physically comfortable as animals.
The links are also close with the Wallace Collection which wishes to organize an exhibition dedicated to Lucian Freud's recent works. This museum has one of the most beautiful female nudes by Titian, in Perseus and Andromeda. The nudes by Freud will have to be at a comparable level. He is looking for his Andromeda.
He finds Sophie who works for Tate Publishing. She is tall and slim with long legs. Titian's Andromeda is standing with one arm raised for anchoring to the rock. Freud knows that his reclining nudes are typical in his art. He puts Sophie on the bed with a raised arm, in full nudity.
Portrait on a white cover, oil on canvas 117 x 143 cm, is painted by Freud in 2002-2003 and will be exhibited at the Wallace Collection in May 2004. This painting is estimated £ 17M for sale by Sotheby's in London on June 26, lot 6.
With family and friends the old artist still knew how to maintain a naked person in confidence, specially through his famous chatter. Julie and Martin painted in 2001 is a good example, sold for $ 17M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2014. With Sophie, chosen by Freud for her Andromeda body, it does not go as well. The sleeping nude of the Portrait on a white cover has clenched fingers in both hands and the artist obsessed with realism did not make them flexible.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
2003 The Pink Star
2013 recorded 76 MCHF including premium, UNPAID
2017 SOLD for HK$ 550M including premium
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 the buyer was unable to pay and its sale was cancelled.
Its come back was eagerly awaited by all the fans of highest jewelry and of auction history. It will be sold by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 4, lot 1801. It is estimated in excess of HK$ 468M currently worth US$ 60M, according to the press release of March 20.
The essay below is based on my 2013 discussion :
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. 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.
It exceeds in all its features the Graff Pink, sold for CHF 45.4 million including premium by Sotheby's on 16 November 2010, which had 24.78 carats, a VVS2 clarity and a fancy intense pink color slightly lower in theory than the fancy vivid but indeed highly striking in this specimen.
The Pink Star is expected beyond US $ 60M, a suitable and even conservative estimate when we consider that it is "only" US$ 1M per carat, but nevertheless ambitious because no other gem has ever reached such a price at auction. (Note that this expected value has been kept unchanged before the 2017 sale).
Please watch the videos shared by Sotheby's : the 2013 pre sale video and the short video introducing the next auction :
Its come back was eagerly awaited by all the fans of highest jewelry and of auction history. It will be sold by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on April 4, lot 1801. It is estimated in excess of HK$ 468M currently worth US$ 60M, according to the press release of March 20.
The essay below is based on my 2013 discussion :
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. 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.
It exceeds in all its features the Graff Pink, sold for CHF 45.4 million including premium by Sotheby's on 16 November 2010, which had 24.78 carats, a VVS2 clarity and a fancy intense pink color slightly lower in theory than the fancy vivid but indeed highly striking in this specimen.
The Pink Star is expected beyond US $ 60M, a suitable and even conservative estimate when we consider that it is "only" US$ 1M per carat, but nevertheless ambitious because no other gem has ever reached such a price at auction. (Note that this expected value has been kept unchanged before the 2017 sale).
Please watch the videos shared by Sotheby's : the 2013 pre sale video and the short video introducing the next auction :
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
2003-2004 The Soul of a British Officer
2015 SOLD for $ 35M including premium
Before he retired in 1994, the figure of Andrew Parker Bowles often appeared in news photos but he remained anonymous despite his imposing posture. Colonel commanding the Household Cavalry before his promotion to the honorary rank of Brigadier, he assured the bodyguard to Queen Elizabeth II.
This aristocrat had previously shared the royal children's passion for horses and polo. The Prince of Wales will much later marry Camilla newly divorced from the Brigadier. The hero attended the wedding without resentment.
Lucian Freud was fond of horses, too, and a longtime friend of Andrew Parker Bowles. He painted his portrait in 2003-2004. During 18 months at a rate of three times a week and four hours per session, the Brigadier came to sit in the artist's studio.
Lucian's process is unique in the history of portrait painting. He rushed to the face of his model to inspect a tiny detail that provoked an equally abrupt return to save it on the canvas. Then he saturated his guest in an endless chatter before being ready to proceed with another detail. Lucian was very witty, which was quite necessary to maintain the patience of his models.
The obsession of the artist was to create lifelike works at the opposite of the dryness of a photograph. His method totally different from Bacon's led also to a strong emotion but Lucian managed to keep the realistic features of his characters. The Brigadier is still admiring today his portrait by Freud, better than life even in the glare of the medals.
The officer is not Sue Tilley. Lucian had not imposed an acrobatic attitude to this dignified sexagenarian who was indeed required to take the same position again at each new session. The result looks like a classic military portrait excepted that it is extraordinary in its psychological rendering.
This oil on canvas 224 x 138 cm is featured in Christie's evening sale in New York on November 10, lot 31B. I invite you to watch the video shared by the auction house, in which this piece is discussed by Brett Gorvy.
This aristocrat had previously shared the royal children's passion for horses and polo. The Prince of Wales will much later marry Camilla newly divorced from the Brigadier. The hero attended the wedding without resentment.
Lucian Freud was fond of horses, too, and a longtime friend of Andrew Parker Bowles. He painted his portrait in 2003-2004. During 18 months at a rate of three times a week and four hours per session, the Brigadier came to sit in the artist's studio.
Lucian's process is unique in the history of portrait painting. He rushed to the face of his model to inspect a tiny detail that provoked an equally abrupt return to save it on the canvas. Then he saturated his guest in an endless chatter before being ready to proceed with another detail. Lucian was very witty, which was quite necessary to maintain the patience of his models.
The obsession of the artist was to create lifelike works at the opposite of the dryness of a photograph. His method totally different from Bacon's led also to a strong emotion but Lucian managed to keep the realistic features of his characters. The Brigadier is still admiring today his portrait by Freud, better than life even in the glare of the medals.
The officer is not Sue Tilley. Lucian had not imposed an acrobatic attitude to this dignified sexagenarian who was indeed required to take the same position again at each new session. The result looks like a classic military portrait excepted that it is extraordinary in its psychological rendering.
This oil on canvas 224 x 138 cm is featured in Christie's evening sale in New York on November 10, lot 31B. I invite you to watch the video shared by the auction house, in which this piece is discussed by Brett Gorvy.
2004 Three Tons of Tulips by Koons
2012 SOLD 33.7 M$ including premium
The turning point in the work of Jeff Koons is around 1995. After exploiting the stupidity of the contemporary symbols conveyed by the popular imaging, he then began his great series of Celebrations, particularly appreciated now by the market.
The earliest were also the first to be auctioned: balloon flower, hanging heart, diamond. These works of monumental dimensions in stainless steel with a finish of pure color interact with their environment through an intense mirror effect for which the artist seeks perfection. Each model is produced in five variants, each variant in a different color.
Then we saw at auction the Easter eggs with their ribbons. On November 14 in New York, Christie's sells a copy of Tulips, which is an even more complex step in the development of the art of Koons.
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. Here is the link to the catalog.
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 copies 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.
I invite you to play the video featured by Christie's, in which Koons himself introduces this artwork.
POST SALE COMMENT
Koons's art is easy to see, but highly complex to implement. This technological feat was sold $ 33.7 million including premium.
The earliest were also the first to be auctioned: balloon flower, hanging heart, diamond. These works of monumental dimensions in stainless steel with a finish of pure color interact with their environment through an intense mirror effect for which the artist seeks perfection. Each model is produced in five variants, each variant in a different color.
Then we saw at auction the Easter eggs with their ribbons. On November 14 in New York, Christie's sells a copy of Tulips, which is an even more complex step in the development of the art of Koons.
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. Here is the link to the catalog.
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 copies 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.
I invite you to play the video featured by Christie's, in which Koons himself introduces this artwork.
POST SALE COMMENT
Koons's art is easy to see, but highly complex to implement. This technological feat was sold $ 33.7 million including premium.
2005 Confrontation with Bacchus
2017 SOLD for $ 46M including premium
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 can 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.
These 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 opus V was sold for $ 15.4M including premium by Sotheby's on May 11, 2016.
The artist makes the second series in 2005 in eight paintings that are immediately exhibited as a whole set by Gagosian in New York. The largest variant later numbered V, acrylic on canvas 325 x 494 cm, will be sold by Christie's in New York as lot 15 B on November 15.
In 2008 paintings V and VII from the 2005 group are judiciously positioned side by side during a temporary exhibition at the Tate Modern in London. The artist appreciates that he had not given a sufficient breadth to his own creation. He then executes a third series of six paintings. This ultimate series of Bacchus is not the apotheosis of a hostile god but the culmination of the effort of Cy Twombly's entire career for expressing through abstraction the blind rages of the real world.
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.
These 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 opus V was sold for $ 15.4M including premium by Sotheby's on May 11, 2016.
The artist makes the second series in 2005 in eight paintings that are immediately exhibited as a whole set by Gagosian in New York. The largest variant later numbered V, acrylic on canvas 325 x 494 cm, will be sold by Christie's in New York as lot 15 B on November 15.
In 2008 paintings V and VII from the 2005 group are judiciously positioned side by side during a temporary exhibition at the Tate Modern in London. The artist appreciates that he had not given a sufficient breadth to his own creation. He then executes a third series of six paintings. This ultimate series of Bacchus is not the apotheosis of a hostile god but the culmination of the effort of Cy Twombly's entire career for expressing through abstraction the blind rages of the real world.
2006 Landscape in Snow by Cui Ruzhuo
2014 SOLD 184 MHK$ including premium by Poly
2006 Hanging Heart Magenta-Gold by Jeff Koons
2007 SOLD for $ 23.6M including premium by Sotheby's
Link to catalogue.
2004-2007 The Colored Meanders of Brice Marden
2020 SOLD for $ 31M including premium
Brice Marden is a colorist, with no narration or interpretation. His purpose is to capture and maintain the attention of the visitor. He began his career in a minimalist style, juxtaposing monochrome rectangles to reveal their contrasts in an approach reminiscent of Albers and Klee.
Marden observes in 1984 that Chinese or Japanese calligraphy is an art in its own right that follows the movements of the artist's hand. He now begins to paint on his monochrome backgrounds with sinuous interwoven lines that reach the whole periphery like Pollock's drippings.
Calligraphy had triggered this major change in Marden's art, but its direct influence disappeared after a few years. The lines are painted one color after another, in a logical order in relation to the chromatic spectrum. They can pass from one panel to another within a polyptych of monochromes. Their width is very regular, demonstrating that they result from a rigorous construction and not from gestures.
The Attended, oil on canvas 208 x 145 cm dated 1996 1999 was sold for $ 11M including premium by Sotheby's on November 13, 2013. Elements (Hydra), oil on linen 190 x 136 cm dated 1999 2000 2001 was sold for $ 9.2M including premium by Phillips on May 14, 2015.
On July 10 in New York, Christie's sells Complements, dated 2004 2007, lot 55 estimated $ 28M. Complements is a joint diptych of oils on canvas for an overall dimension of 183 x 244 cm. The panels are monochrome, glowing orange on the left and deep blue on the right. The lines are successively green, blue, brown and red on the left panel and red, orange and green on the right panel.
An example on paper from the same period, Butterfly Wings with Green, 28 x 38 cm executed in 2005, is estimated $ 1.2M, lot 69 in the same sale.
RESULTS including premium :
Complements SOLD for $ 31M
Art on paper SOLD for $ 1.46M
Marden observes in 1984 that Chinese or Japanese calligraphy is an art in its own right that follows the movements of the artist's hand. He now begins to paint on his monochrome backgrounds with sinuous interwoven lines that reach the whole periphery like Pollock's drippings.
Calligraphy had triggered this major change in Marden's art, but its direct influence disappeared after a few years. The lines are painted one color after another, in a logical order in relation to the chromatic spectrum. They can pass from one panel to another within a polyptych of monochromes. Their width is very regular, demonstrating that they result from a rigorous construction and not from gestures.
The Attended, oil on canvas 208 x 145 cm dated 1996 1999 was sold for $ 11M including premium by Sotheby's on November 13, 2013. Elements (Hydra), oil on linen 190 x 136 cm dated 1999 2000 2001 was sold for $ 9.2M including premium by Phillips on May 14, 2015.
On July 10 in New York, Christie's sells Complements, dated 2004 2007, lot 55 estimated $ 28M. Complements is a joint diptych of oils on canvas for an overall dimension of 183 x 244 cm. The panels are monochrome, glowing orange on the left and deep blue on the right. The lines are successively green, blue, brown and red on the left panel and red, orange and green on the right panel.
An example on paper from the same period, Butterfly Wings with Green, 28 x 38 cm executed in 2005, is estimated $ 1.2M, lot 69 in the same sale.
RESULTS including premium :
Complements SOLD for $ 31M
Art on paper SOLD for $ 1.46M
