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New York – A painting by British painter David Hockney was sold for $ 90.3 million at auction at Christie's in New York on Thursday, setting the record for a living artist by far.
"Portrait of an Artist"dethroned"Balloon Dog (Orange)", by Jeff Koons, sold for $ 58.4 million in 2013, also at Christie's in New York.
The auction started at $ 18 million and the $ 50 million mark was reached in just 30 seconds.
The canvas was finally sold for $ 80 million after a little over nine minutes, price increased to 90.3 million by adding fees and commissions, during this sale which was the last of the big autumn sales in New York.
This total also shattered the record for a work of the British painter, now 81 years old, hitherto held by the "Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica", acquired last May for $ 28.4 million at a sale organized by Sotheby's.
Rare for a painting of this price, estimated at $ 80 million, the work was not subject to any guarantee (minimum price insured by the auction house) or reserve price (minimum price below which the lot can not be sold).
"We can rarely say: this is the opportunity to buy the best painting of the artist. (…) This time, this is the caseAna Maria Celis, vice president of the post-war and contemporary art department at Christie's, said at the presentation of the painting.
Beyond, the work is considered as "one of the greatest works of art of the modern era", said Alex Rotter, co-president of contemporary and post-war art at Christie's.
– Attraction –
It corresponds to "the climax"Of the two most famous themes of the British, great master of pop-art, he had explained: the pools and the double-portrait, two people interacting.
On this large-format canvas (2.13 m by 3.05 m), an elegant man standing by the pool, thoughtfully looks at another one swimming underwater in his direction, against the backdrop of an idyllic landscape. trees and mountains.
The standing man is David Hockney's ex-lover and muse, Peter Schlesinger, who was one of his students at UCLA University in Los Angeles. Their relationship lasted from 1966 to 1972.
The painting was made in 1972 as their affair ended and the swimmer could be Peter's new lover, according to Rotter.
She has become one of David Hockney's cult works, featured on the cover of numerous books about the artist. She was also one of the attractions of the retrospective that was dedicated to her in 2017, for her 80th birthday.
"From the Tate Gallery (London), the Center Pompidou (Paris) and the Metropolitan Museum (New York), this work always stood out, it was the one around which everyone gravitated"according to Mr. Rotter, who did not mean anything about the owner of the painting.
According to Bloomberg and the website "artnet"It would belong to British billionaire Joe Lewis, owner of the Tavistock Group and the English football club Tottenham Hotspur, his fortune would reach some $ 5.4 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
The current owner acquired it in 1995 from Hollywood producer David Geffen, for an undisclosed price.
A prolific artist, David Hockney continues to paint every day. "That's all I want to do today, at my age", he explained in 2015, during an interview with Channel 4."That's all that interests me, really."
"When I paint, I feel like I'm 30he had said.It's only when I stop that I feel my age."
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