David Hockney’s Portrait of an Artist (1974)
Pretty much every major Christie’s auction breaks some kind of record, but their Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening in New York in November has one hell of a headline piece. Part of David Hockney’s iconic series of swimming-pool paintings, Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) has been given an estimate of $80m – that’s over £61m. If the gavel does go down for that, it’ll make the painting the most expensive ever sold from a living artist, and by a huge margin than previous record-holder, the $58m Balloon Dog (Orange) by Jeff Koons. Given that Hockney’s is one of the most famous paintings in the world… well, we’re not betting against it.
The Current Record Holders
The ‘by a living artist’ bit of Hockney’s soon-to-be-claimed title makes a huge difference – and not just to the artist himself. Compared to the most expensive works of all time, he still has a long way to go.
1st Place: Salvator Mundi Leonardo Di Vinci (sold for $450.3m)
2nd Place: Interchange Willem De Kooning (sold for $300m)
3rd Place: The Card Players Paul Cézanne (sold for $250m)
© Photo RMN – Hervé Lewandowski
