Controversial Marlene Dumas Painting Sells For Massive $13.6 Million Price
It's a price tag that has the art world buzzing.
A single painting just fetched an astronomical sum at auction.
And it's not just the price causing a stir.
The artwork itself, known for its raw power and challenging themes, is also at the center of the conversation.
Who is Marlene Dumas?
South African artist Marlene Dumas is widely considered one of the most influential painters working today.
Known for her emotionally charged and psychologically complex portraits, her work often delves into challenging subjects.
Themes of sexuality, race, grief, motherhood, and the human body frequently appear in her pieces.
Her distinctive style uses washes of paint to create figures that are both vulnerable and powerful.
About 'Miss January'
The painting at the heart of the recent auction frenzy is titled "Miss January."
Standing at an imposing 9.25 feet tall, it's a work of monumental scale.
Painted in 1997, it revisits a subject Dumas first explored decades earlier.
The artwork depicts the forms of 10 models, echoing an earlier piece Dumas created at the age of 10 called "Miss World."
According to Christie's auction house, "Miss January" is considered Dumas's "magnum opus."
In this painting, Dumas triumphantly demonstrates a formal mastery of the woman’s body while simultaneously freeing it from a tradition of subjection, upending normalized concepts of the female nude through the lens of a male-centric history.
That description from Christie's hints at the thought-provoking and potentially controversial nature of the work's subject matter and its artistic statement.
The High Stakes Auction
The painting went up for auction at Christie's, one of the world's leading auction houses.
Prior to the sale, expectations were already high.
Christie's had estimated the painting would fetch between $12 million and $18 million.
The auction room on Wednesday was filled with anticipation.
Bidding was reportedly competitive.
Isabella Lauria, head of the 21st century evening sale at Christie's, expressed delight at the outcome.
We were thrilled with the outcome of our sale this evening.
She described the final price achieved for "Miss January" as "incredible."
The Record-Breaking Figure
So, what exactly did this large, powerful, and artistically significant painting sell for?
When the hammer finally fell, "Miss January" had sold for a staggering $13.6 million.
This massive price immediately set a new record.
It is now the highest price ever paid at auction for a work by a living female artist.
While a significant achievement, it's worth noting how this figure compares to works by male artists.
At the same auction, a 1982 portrait by Jean-Michel Basquiat sold for $23.4 million.
The overall record price for a living male artist is currently $90.3 million, achieved by Jeff Koons' "Rabbit" sculpture in 2019.
Despite the disparity compared to top male artists' prices, Marlene Dumas's "Miss January" sale marks a landmark moment, pushing the benchmark higher for living female artists and underscoring her prominent place in the contemporary art world.
The sale cements the high value placed on Dumas's work and its impact.
