Lichtenstein, an American pop artist famously known for his comic-book inspired works, is considered as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. The list of his artworks includes about 2,000 paintings, drawings and sculptures with a total production amounting to $100 million.
Towards the end of his life, Lichtenstein started creating abstract works in graphic style and was particularly fond of using Ben-Day dots as primary visual elements in his famous comic book pieces. He also used other such processes as engraving and screen printing.
With such a rich collection of artwork, it is hard to imagine that only a few pieces have been sold at auctions. But some are really worth millions of dollars or pounds. Let’s take a look at the top 10 most expensive Lichtenstein pieces in the world:
10. Abstraction with Yellow Sky – $18 million
This painting is among Lichtenstein’s large-scale abstract masterpieces. This piece was listed for sale in Sotheby’s contemporary art auction and was sold for US$18 million to an anonymous buyer from Asia. This work was purchased from the estate of Milton A Weil, an American collector who was known as one
Lichtenstein art is extremely popular. Lichtenstein’s works are global collectors’ items today. Lichtenstein paintings and prints have been sold for millions at auctions across the globe, with a number of them breaking world records.
In the 2000s alone, there were over 20 Lichtenstein artworks auctioned for more than US$10 million each. The 2006 sale of his Whaam! piece not only broke the record previously set by his own work, but also became the most expensive work of art ever sold at an auction up to that time.
The highest price paid for a single Lichtenstein piece was $165 million in 2010, for Triple Elvis which was then the highest price paid for any artwork ever sold.
To commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997), here’s a list of 10 most expensive pieces by this legendary American pop artist.
It is estimated that he produced more than 500 large-scale works, ranging from his iconic large-scale Pop Art paintings to sculptures to screen prints.
During the 1960s, he was at the forefront of the New York art scene, and by 1965 had already achieved international fame. He was also notoriously reclusive, and is believed to have had only one recorded conversation in his lifetime: with Andy Warhol.
Towards the end of his life, Lichtenstein’s work became more serious as he began to focus on war, death and modern society. His pieces often look like propaganda posters or comic books, and are sometimes interactive or gaudy – a reflection of his love for advertising.
After his death in 1997 at the age of 77, his estate was valued at $162m (£103m). Since then a number of the most expensive Lichtenstein pieces have sold for record prices.
Here are some examples:
Whaam! (1963) – Sold for $165m in 2013. This piece is one of Lichtenstein’s most famous works ever. The piece takes its name from a sound effect featured in many comics of the time, including ”What!” , which inspired the painting’s title . It was completed just two
I actually did a post on this back in 2009, but because it was about a year ago and there are a few more things that I want to share about Roy’s art, I decided to make another one. Have you ever wondered how much Lichtenstein is worth today? No? Me neither, so let me tell you.
Tate Modern displays 14 works by Roy Lichtenstein in its collection and expects that the current exhibition will attract further visitors to its website. You can see Roy Lichtenstein’s work on the Tate website and read some interesting facts about each work of art. The Tate Modern describes Roy as “one of the most important American artists of the twentieth century”.
For those who didn’t know, he is famous for his Pop Art images which he produced using Benday dots and Ben-Day dots. These dots were used in commercial printing before the 1960s and they became his trademark style.
Roy Lichtenstein was born in New York City in 1923 to Jewish immigrants from Germany. His father was a businessman and his mother worked as a bookkeeper. Roy went to school in Brooklyn around the time of World War II when he first started to draw cartoons for fun and later for profit as an
One of the richest painters in the world, Roy Lichtenstein, was born in 1923. He was an immensely influential figure in the pop art movement and his works have been exhibited in major international museums such as the Guggenheim Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Towards the end of his career, he started to work on “Mirror paintings”, which featured comic-strip motifs done on mirrors. Today his works, especially those of his pop art period, are highly sought-after by many collectors.
Titled “Whaam!”, this 1963 piece was sold for approximately $165 million at a Christie’s auction in New York in 2007 to a telephone bidder. It is one of only three works by Lichtenstein that exceeded $100 million in auction sales.
Roy Lichtenstein used motorized tools to create the dots and lines that compose this image on canvas.. This piece depicts a fighter jet shooting down a red plane with a large white circle and a white exclamation mark inside of it. It was purchased by billionaire Steven A. Cohen for $165 million at Christie’s New York in November 2013.. “Nurse” is one of Roy Lichtenstein
In 1963, Lichtenstein became interested in commercial art after visiting the home of a friend who had recently purchased a pop art painting. Lichtenstein became fascinated with the subject matter of advertisements, and subsequently made a series of Pop Art paintings based on comic strip images.
Between 1964 and 1968, he produced more than 100 paintings, watercolors and drawings based on subjects from newspapers and magazines such as Life, Collier’s, Esquire, and the Saturday Evening Post. His brushwork became broader and his use of color more vivid. Dots, short lines, or small colored shapes cluster around a prominent central image.
The works are characterized by an apparent surface simplicity, with Ben-Day dots used to create the effect of photographic reproduction. The subject matter is drawn from popular culture: movie stars, car crashes, pin-ups, comic strips; all rendered in a style reminiscent of the commercial illustrators of the 1920s and 1930s that inspired him.
From 1960 to 1962 he made three paintings per week—a total of 200 paintings—and sold every one through Joan Brown’s gallery in New York. In 1963 his first solo exhibition was held at the museum in Richmond, Virginia; its success led to solo exhibitions at other museums nationwide.[4
One of the largest collections of pop art in the world belongs to the British businessman and founder of Pink Floyd, Roger Water. The collection is estimated to be worth $ 700 million.
The collection includes over 250 works of Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and James Rosenquist. Water donated about one-third of his art collection to a foundation that bears his name. The collection has been exhibited at the Tate Modern in London, and it will be open to the public from May 23, 2013.
The list of paintings that are part of Water’s collection was published by Art Market Monitor.
