Here is a selection of paintings by still little-known, but very talented artists. All the guys from Russia and our contemporaries. Watch, read and enjoy.
Guys, I write here all the time about quite famous and accomplished personalities. Of course, it would be much more interesting for me to write about those artists that no one knows about yet, but what can you do - you can write about anything on the VKontakte public, and you can only write on a blog what people are looking for in Yandex and Google, otherwise, no one will go there except you. But for a change and pleasure, I, nevertheless, decided to make a selection of "Little-known contemporary artists of Russia and their paintings."
Some of these guys are still at the very beginning of their journey, and some have already become relatively established and successfully sell their works on VKontakte or on marketplaces like a crafts fair and are even known in narrow circles, but they all have one thing in common - they are still not known to the general public. But unknown does not mean deprived of talent, so I think it will be interesting for you to look. I decided to include here not only the draftsmen themselves, but also several sculptors.
I learned about this artist not so long ago and almost immediately fell in love with her paintings. Partly because she is very close to me in spirit as an artist, partly because of the admiration for technology and a riot of imagination. Maria Susarenko is a sweet girl from St. Petersburg and a graduate of the famous St. A.L. Stieglitz. Maria Susarenko's paintings are an exuberant mix of Art Nouveau and Surrealism. They look very bright and decorative.
The eternal motif of Yuralga is cats. 
Funny weirdo. This is the kind of brooch I would wear.
MOAR — https://vk.com/shamancats
Even if there are not paintings, but decorations, they are so seductive and loving that I could not resist. After all, a sculptor is also an artist. Yes, an artist can be a painter, graphic artist, illustrator or sculptor (your captain is obvious). Here are two girls whose jewelry would not shame René Lalique himself.
In the workshop "Grimoire La poule noire", which in translation is "Grimoire of the black hen" (your captain is obvious), Lera Prokopets is in charge. Lera is a miniature sculptor and simply a gorgeous lady. She works primarily with polymer clay and stones. Lera creates stunning jewelry in a style that I would call gothic art nouveau. Such, slightly witchish, dark, but graceful beauty. Well, still, it's a "grimoire of a black chicken."
Hekate, Greek goddess of the night. 
Morphine. Thin:) 
Either demons or vampires with their tongues hanging out is one of Lera's favorite motifs. Levitan, Shishkin, Aivazovsky and many other names are familiar to every educated person in our country and abroad. This is our pride. There are many talented artists today. It's just that their names are not so widely known yet. 
The Art Newspaper Russia presents a rating: the most expensive living artists of Russia. If you are still sure that there were no Russian artists in the western cage and there is not, we are ready to argue with that. The language of numbers.
The conditions were simple: each of the living artists could be represented by only one, their most expensive work. When compiling the rating, not only the results of public auctions were taken into account, but also the most high-profile private sales. The authors of the rating were guided by the principle “if something sells loudly, then someone needs it”, and therefore appreciated the work of marketers and press managers of artists who brought record private sales to the public. Important note: the rating is based solely on financial indicators; if it was based on the exhibition activity of artists, it would look a little different. Resources served as external sources for analytics Artnet.com, Artprice.com, Skatepress.com and Artinvestment.ru.
The US dollar was chosen as the currency of the world rating, and the British pound sterling was taken as the equivalent of the sales of Russian artists (since 90% of domestic sales took place in London in this currency). The remaining 10% of works sold in US dollars and euros were recalculated at the exchange rate at the time of the transaction, as a result of which some positions changed places. In addition to the actual cost of the work, data were collected on the total capitalization of artists (the number of top works sold at auction for all years), on the place of a contemporary artist in the ranking of artists of all time, on the place of the most expensive work of a participant among all sold works of other authors, and also about nationality and country of residence. Important information is also contained in the statistics of repeated sales of each artist as an objective indicator of investment
attractiveness.
Last year, 2013, significantly changed the positions of contemporary artists in the international sales ranking. Of the top 50 most expensive works of art, 16 modern ones were sold last season - a record number (for comparison, 17 works were sold from 2010 to 2012, only one sale falls on the twentieth century). The demand for living artists is partly identical to the demand for all contemporary art, partly to the cynical understanding that the capitalization of assets after their death will invariably increase.
Among the Russian participants, the most respected were the brothers Sergey and Alexey Tkachevy(b. 1922 and 1925), the youngest - Anatoly Osmolovsky(b. 1969). The question is who will be the new Jean-Michel Basquiat while open. Clear classes of buyers are visible in the sales of our artists: leaders are bought by foreign collectors and Russian oligarchs, places from 10th to 30th are provided by emigrant collectors, and the conditional bottom of the top 50 is our future, young collectors with “new » money.
1. Ilya Kabakov
It seems that in general the main Russian artist (which does not prevent Kabakov, who was born in Dnepropetrovsk, from painting himself Ukrainian), the founding father of Moscow conceptualism (one of them), the author of the term and practice of “total installation”. Since 1988 he has been living and working in New York. He works in collaboration with his wife, Emilia Kabakov, which is why the title should look like "Ilya and Emilia Kabakov", but since Ilya Iosifovich became known earlier than Ilya and Emilia, then let it stay that way. Works are in the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Hermitage, MoMA, Kolodzei Art Foundation(USA), etc.
Year of birth: 1933
Product: "Beetle". 1982
Date of sale: 28.02.2008
Price (GBP)1: 2,932,500
Total Capitalization (GBP): 10,686,000
Seat: 1
Average cost per job (GBP): 117,429
Number of repeat sales: 12
2. Eric Bulatov
Using techniques that would later be called Sots Art, he combined figurative painting with text in his works. In Soviet times, a successful illustrator of children's books. Since 1989 he has been living and working in New York, since 1992 in Paris. The first Russian artist with a solo exhibition at the Pompidou Center. The works are kept in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Pompidou Center, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, etc., are included in the collections of the Foundation Dina Verny, Victor Bondarenko, Vyacheslav Kantor, Ekaterina and Vladimir Semenikhin, Igor Tsukanov.
Year of birth: 1933
Artwork: "Glory to the CPSU". 1975
Date of sale: 28.02.2008
Price (GBP)1: 1,084,500
Total Capitalization (GBP): 8,802,000
Seat: 2
Average cost per job (GBP): 163,000
Number of repeat sales: 11
3. Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid
The creators of Sots Art - a scurrilous trend in unofficial art, parodying the symbols and techniques of officialdom. They have lived in New York since 1978. Until the mid-2000s, they worked in pairs. As an art project, they organized the "sale of souls" of famous artists through an auction (soul Andy Warhol since then owned by the Moscow artist Alena Kirtsova). Works are in the collections of the MoMA, the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre, in the collections Shalva Breus, Daria Zhukova and Roman Abramovich and etc.
Year of birth: 1943, 1945
Work: "Meeting of Solzhenitsyn and Böll at Rostropovich's dacha". 1972
Date of sale: 23.04.2010
Price (GBP)1: 657 250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 3,014,000
Seat: 7
Average cost per job (GBP): 75,350
Number of repeat sales: 3
former comar&melamid artstudio archive
4. Semyon Faibisovich
A photorealist artist who remains the most accurate realist even now, when painting fascinates Semyon Natanovich less than journalism. Exhibited at Malaya Gruzinskaya, where in 1985 he was noticed by New York dealers and collectors. Since 1987 he has regularly exhibited in the USA and Western Europe. An active supporter of the abolition of the law on propaganda of homosexuality in Russia. Lives and works in Moscow. Works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Moscow House of Photography, museums in Germany, Poland, the USA, are included in the collections Daria Zhukova and Roman Abramovich, Igor Markin, Igor
Tsukanova.
Year of birth: 1949
Composition: "Soldiers" (from the series "Stations"). 1989
Date of sale: 10/13/2007
Price (GBP)1: 311,200
Total Capitalization (GBP): 3,093,000
Seat: 6
Average cost per job (GBP): 106,655
Number of repeat sales: 7
5. Grigory (Grisha) Bruskin
The protagonist of the first and last Soviet auction Sotheby's in 1988, where his work The Fundamental Lexicon became the top lot (£220,000). At the invitation of the German government, he created a monumental triptych for the reconstructed Reichstag in Berlin. Winner of the Kandinsky Prize in the nomination "Project of the Year" for the exhibition Time H at the Multimedia Art Museum. Lives and works in New York and Moscow. Works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, MoMA, the Museum of Jewish Culture (New York), etc., are included in the collections of the Queen of Spain Sofia, Petr Aven, Shalva Breus, Vladimir and Ekaterina Semenikhin, Milos Forman.
Year of birth: 1945
Artwork: "Logii. Part 1". 1987
Date of sale: 07.11.2000
Price (GBP)1: 424,000
Total Capitalization (GBP): 720,000
Seat: 15
Average cost per job (GBP): 24,828
Number of repeat sales: 5
6. Oleg Tselkov
One of the most famous artists of the sixties, who in the 1960s began and still continues a cycle of paintings depicting rough, as if molded from clay, human faces (or figures), painted with bright aniline colors. Since 1977 lives in Paris. The works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Hermitage, the Zimmerli Museum of Rutgers University, etc., are included in the collections Mikhail Baryshnikov, Arthur Miller, Igor Tsukanov. The largest private collection of Tselkov's works in Russia belongs to Evgeny Evtushenko.
Year of birth: 1934
Artwork: "Boy with Balloons" 1957
Date of sale: 26.11.2008
Price (GBP)1: 238,406
Total Capitalization (GBP): 4,232,000
Seat: 5
Average cost per job (GBP): 53,570
Number of repeat sales: 14
7. Oscar Rabin
Leader of the "Lianozovo group" (Moscow nonconformist artists of the 1950s-1960s), organizer of the scandalous bulldozer exhibition 1974. He was the first in the Soviet Union to sell works privately. In 1978 he was deprived of Soviet citizenship. Lives and works in Paris. In 2006 he won the Innovation Award for his contribution to art. The works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, the Zimmerli Museum of Rutgers University, are included in the collections of Alexander Glezer, Vyacheslav Kantor, Alexander Kronik, Iveta and Tamaz Manasherov, Evgeny Nutovich, Aslan Chekhoev.
Year of birth: 1928
Artwork: "The city and the moon (Socialist
city)". 1959
Date of sale: 15.04.2008
Price (GBP)1: 171,939
Total Capitalization (GBP): 5,397,000
Seat: 3
Average cost per job (GBP): 27,964
Number of repeat sales: 45
8. Zurab Tsereteli
The largest representative of the already monumental art. The author of the monument to Peter I in Moscow and the monument Good conquers Evil in front of the UN building in New York. Founder of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art, President of the Russian Academy of Arts, creator of the Zurab Tsereteli Art Gallery, working at the aforementioned academy. Sculptures by Zurab Tsereteli, in addition to Russia, adorn Brazil, Great Britain, Georgia, Spain, Lithuania, the USA, France and Japan.
Year of birth: 1934
Composition: "The Dream of Athos"
Date of sale: 01.12.2009
Price (GBP)1: 151 250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 498,000
Seat: 19
Average cost per job (GBP): 27,667
Number of repeat sales: 4
9. Viktor Pivovarov
One of the founders of Moscow conceptualism. Like Kabakov, the inventor of the conceptual album genre; like Kabakov, Bulatov and Oleg Vasilyev, he is a successful illustrator of children's books who collaborated with the magazines Murzilka and Funny Pictures. Since 1982 he has been living and working in Prague. The works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin, Kolodzei Art Foundation(USA), in the collections of Vladimir and Ekaterina Semenikhin, Igor Tsukanov.
Year of birth: 1937
Artwork: "Triptych with a snake." 2000
Sale date: 10/18/2008
Price (GBP)1: 145 250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 482,000
Seat: 20
Average cost per job (GBP): 17,852
Number of repeat sales: 6
10. Alexander Melamid
Half of the creative tandem Komar — Melamid, disbanded in 2003. Together with Vitaly Komar, a participant bulldozer exhibition(where they died Double self-portrait, the founding work of Sots Art). Since 1978 he has been living and working in New York. There is no information about in which well-known collections the works of Melamid, created by him independently, are located.
Year of birth: 1945
Composition: Cardinal José Saraiva Martins. 2007
Sale date: 10/18/2008
Price (GBP)1: 145 250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 145,000
Seat: 36
Average cost per job (GBP): 145,000
Number of repeat sales: —
11. Francisco Infante Arana
The owner, perhaps, of the heaviest list of exhibitions among Russian artists. Member of the group of kinetists "Traffic", in the 1970s he found his own version of photo performance, or "artifact" - geometric shapes integrated into the natural landscape.
Year of birth: 1943
Artwork: "Building a sign." 1984
Date of sale: 31.05.2006
Price (GBP)1: 142,400
Total Capitalization (GBP): 572,000
Seat: 17
Average cost per job (GBP): 22,000
Number of repeat sales: —
12. Vladimir Nemukhin
Metaphysician. A classic of the second wave of the Russian avant-garde, a member of the "Lianozovo group", one of the participants in the Bulldozer Exhibition, curator (or initiator) of important exhibitions of the 1980s, when unofficial Soviet
art was just becoming aware of itself.
Year of birth: 1925
Artwork: "Unfinished Solitaire". 1966
Date of sale: 26.04.2006
Price (GBP)1: 240,000
Total Capitalization (GBP): 4,338,000
Seat: 4
Average cost per job (GBP): 36,454
Number of repeat sales: 26
13. Vladimir Yankilevsky
Surrealist, one of the main names of the post-war Moscow unofficial art, the creator of monumental philosophical polyptychs.
Year of birth: 1938
Artwork: “Triptych No. 10. Anatomy of the soul. II." 1970
Date of sale: 23.04.2010
Price (GBP)1: 133,250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 754,000
Seat: 14
Average cost per job (GBP): 12,780
Number of repeat sales: 7
14. Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky
picturesque project Paintings to order, begun by them in the hopeless 1990s for painting, received what it deserved in the 2000s. The duet became popular with collectors, and one painting ended up in the collection of the Pompidou Center.
Year of birth: 1963, 1964
Artwork: "Night fitness". 2004
Date of sale: 22.06.2007
Price (GBP)1: 132,000
Total Capitalization (GBP): 1,378,000
Seat: 11
Average cost per job (GBP): 26,500
Number of repeat sales: 4
15. Sergey Volkov
One of the heroes of perestroika art, known for expressive paintings with thoughtful statements. Participant of the Soviet auction Sotheby's in 1988.
Year of birth: 1956
Artwork: "Double vision.
Triptych"
Date of sale: 31.05.2007
Price (GBP)1: 132,000
Total Capitalization (GBP): 777,000
Place: 12
Average cost per job (GBP): 38,850
Number of repeat sales: 4
16. AES + F (Tatyana Arzamasova, Lev Evzovich, Evgeny Svyatsky, Vladimir Fridkes)
AES projects were distinguished by a good presentation in the sloppy 1990s, which is what they remember. Now they are making large animated frescoes broadcast on dozens of screens.
Year of birth: 1955, 1958, 1957, 1956
Composition: "Warrior No. 4"
Date of sale: 12.03.2008
Price (GBP)1: 120,500
Total Capitalization (GBP): 305,000
Seat: 27
Average cost per job (GBP): 30,500
Number of repeat sales: —
17. Lev Tabenkin
Sculptor and painter with a sculptural vision, as if sculpting his characters from clay.
Year of birth: 1952
Composition: Jazz Orchestra. 2004
Date of sale: 30.06.2008
Price (GBP)1: 117,650
Total Capitalization (GBP): 263,000
Seat: 28
Average cost per job (GBP): 26,300
Number of repeat sales: 7
18. Mikhail (Misha Shayevich) Brusilovsky
Sverdlovsk surrealist, author of ambiguous allegories.
Year of birth: 1931
Artwork: Football. 1965
Date of sale: 28.11.2006
Price (GBP)1: 108,000
Total Capitalization (GBP): 133,000
Seat: 38
Average cost per job (GBP): 22,167
Number of repeat sales: —
19. Olga Bulgakova
One of the main figures of the intelligentsia "carnival" painting of the Brezhnev era. Corresponding member
Russian Academy of Arts.
Year of birth: 1951
Composition: "Dream of the red
bird." 1988
Date of sale: 22.11.2010
Price (GBP)1: 100,876
Total Capitalization (GBP): 219,000
Seat: 31
Average cost per job (GBP): 36,500
Number of repeat sales: —
20. Alexander Ivanov
An abstract artist who is primarily known as a businessman, collector and creator of the Faberge Museum in Baden-Baden (Germany).
Year of birth: 1962
Composition: Love. 1996
Date of sale: 06/05/2013
Price (GBP)1: 97,250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 201,000
Seat: 33
Average cost per job (GBP): 50,250
Number of repeat sales: —
21. Ivan Chuikov
An independent wing of Moscow pictorial conceptualism. Author of a series of paintings-objects Windows. Somehow in the 1960s, he burned all the paintings, which is why gallery owners are still sad.
Year of birth: 1935
Artwork: "Untitled" 1986
Date of sale: 12.03.2008
Price (GBP)1: 96,500
Total Capitalization (GBP): 1,545,000
Seat: 10
Average cost per job (GBP): 36,786
Number of repeat sales: 8
22. Konstantin Zvezdochetov
In his youth, a member of the Mukhomor group, which called itself the "fathers of the" new wave "in the Soviet Union" -
with good reason; with the onset of creative maturity, the participant of the Venice Biennale and the Kassel
documenta. Researcher and connoisseur of the visual in the Soviet grassroots culture.
Year of birth: 1958
Composition: "Perdo-K-62M"
Date of sale: 13.06.2008
Price (GBP)1: 92,446
Total Capitalization (GBP): 430,000
Seat: 22
Average cost per job (GBP): 22,632
Number of repeat sales: 2
23. Natalia Nesterova
One of the main art stars of the Brezhnev stagnation. Favored by collectors for its textured painting style.
Year of birth: 1944
Artwork: "Melnik and his
son". 1969
Date of sale: 15.06.2007
Price (GBP)1: 92,388
Total Capitalization (GBP): 1,950,000
Seat: 9
Average cost per job (GBP): 20,526
Number of repeat sales: 15
24. Maxim Kantor
An expressionist painter who performed at the Russian pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 1997, as well as a publicist and writer, author of a philosophical and satirical novel drawing tutorial about the ins and outs of the Russian art world.
Year of birth: 1957
Artwork: "The Structure of Democracy". 2003
Sale date: 10/18/2008
Price (GBP)1: 87,650
Total Capitalization (GBP): 441,000
Seat: 21
Average cost per job (GBP): 44,100
Number of repeat sales: 2
25. Andrey Sidersky
Creates paintings in the style of psi-art invented by him. He translated into Russian the works of Carlos Castaneda and Richard Bach.
Year of birth: 1960
Composition: "Triptych"
Date of sale: 04.12.2009
Price (GBP)1: 90,000
Total Capitalization (GBP): 102,000
Seat: 42
Average cost per job (GBP): 51,000
Number of repeat sales: —
26. Valery Koshlyakov
Known for paintings with architectural motifs. The largest representative of the "South Russian wave". Often uses cardboard boxes, bags, adhesive tape. The first exhibition with his participation was held in a public toilet in Rostov-on-Don in 1988.
Year of birth: 1962
Artwork: Versailles. 1993
Date of sale: 12.03.2008
Price (GBP)1: 72,500
Total Capitalization (GBP): 346,000
Seat: 26
Average cost per job (GBP): 21,625
Number of repeat sales: 8
27. Alexey Sundukov
Laconic, lead-colored paintings about the "lead abominations" of everyday Russian life.
Year of birth: 1952
Artwork: "The Essence of Being". 1988
Date of sale: 23.04.2010
Price (GBP)1: 67,250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 255,000
Seat: 29
Average cost per job (GBP): 25,500
Number of repeat sales: 1
28. Igor Novikov
Belongs to the generation of Moscow nonconformist artists of the late 1980s.
Year of birth: 1961
Artwork: “Kremlin breakfast, or Moscow for sale”. 2009
Date of sale: 03.12.2010
Price (GBP)1: 62,092
Total Capitalization (GBP): 397,000
Seat: 24
Average cost per job (GBP): 15,880
Number of repeat sales: 3
29. Vadim Zakharov
Archivist of Moscow Conceptualism. The author of spectacular installations on thoughtful topics, represented Russia at the Venice
biennale.
Year of birth: 1959
Artwork: Baroque. 1986-1994
Sale date: 10/18/2008
Price (GBP)1: 61,250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 243,000
Seat: 30
Average cost per job (GBP): 20,250
Number of repeat sales: —
30. Yuri Krasny
Author of art programs for children with special needs.
Year of birth: 1925
Composition: "Smoker"
Date of sale: 04.04.2008Price (GBP)1: 59,055
Total Capitalization (GBP): 89,000
Seat: 44
Average cost per job (GBP): 11,125
Number of repeat sales: 8
31. Sergey and Alexey Tkachev
Classics of late Soviet impressionism, students of Arkady Plastov, known for their paintings from the life of the Russian village.
Year of birth: 1922, 1925
Artwork: "In the field". 1954
Date of sale: 01.12.2010
Price (GBP)1: 58,813
Total Capitalization (GBP): 428,000
Seat: 23
Average cost per job (GBP): 22,526
Number of repeat sales: 4
32. Svetlana Kopystyanskaya
Known for installations of paintings. After the Moscow auction Sotheby's in 1988 works abroad.
Year of birth: 1950
Composition: "Seascape"
Date of sale: 10/13/2007
Price (GBP)1: 57,600
Total Capitalization (GBP): 202,000
Seat: 32
Average cost per job (GBP): 22,444
Number of repeat sales: 2
33. Boris Orlov
Sculptor close to Sots Art. Famous for his work in the ironic "imperial" style and the masterful dressing of bronze busts and bouquets.
Year of birth: 1941
Artwork: Sailor. 1976
Sale date: 10/17/2013
Price (GBP)1: 55,085
Total Capitalization (GBP): 174,000
Seat: 34
Average cost per job (GBP): 17,400
Number of repeat sales: 1
34. Vyacheslav Kalinin
The author of expressive paintings from the life of the urban lower classes and drinking bohemia.
Year of birth: 1939
Artwork: "Self-portrait with a hang glider"
Date of sale: 25.11.2012
Price (GBP)1: 54,500
Total Capitalization (GBP): 766,000
Seat: 13
Average cost per job (GBP): 12,767
Number of repeat sales: 24
35. Evgeny Semenov
Known for a photo series with patients with Down's disease, playing the role of gospel characters.
Year of birth: 1960
Composition: Heart. 2009
Date of sale: 29.06.2009
Price (GBP)1: 49,250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 49,000
Seat: 48
Average Cost of Work (GBP): 49,000
Number of repeat sales: —
36. Yuri Cooper
He became famous for his nostalgic paintings with old household items. Playwright Twelve paintings from the artist's life, staged at the Moscow Art Theater. A.P. Chekhov.
Year of birth: 1940
Artwork: Window. Dass Street, 56. 1978
Date of sale: 09.06.2010
Price (GBP)1: 49,250
Total Capitalization (GBP): 157,000
Seat: 35
Average cost per job (GBP): 2,754
Number of repeat sales: 14
37. Alexander Kosolapov
A social artist whose work has been the target of all sorts of attacks. During the Art Moscow 2005 fair, one of his works was destroyed by a religious fanatic with a hammer.
Year of birth: 1943
Artwork: "Marlboro Malevich". 1987
Date of sale: 12.03.2008
Price (GBP)1: 48,500
Total Capitalization (GBP): 510,000
Seat: 18
Average cost per job (GBP): 15,938
Number of repeat sales: 1
38. Leonid Sokov
Leading Sots Art sculptor who combined folklore with politics. Among the famous works Device for determining nationality by the shape of the nose.
Year of birth: 1941
Artwork: "Bear hitting a sickle with a hammer." 1996
Date of sale: 12.03.2008
Price (GBP)1: 48,500
Total Capitalization (GBP): 352,000
Seat: 25
Average cost per job (GBP): 13,538
Number of repeat sales: 7
39. Vladimir Ovchinnikov
One of the patriarchs of unofficial art in Leningrad. Orthodox version of Fernando Botero.
Year of birth: 1941
Artwork: "Angels and Railway Tracks" 1977
Date of sale: 17.04.2007
Price (GBP)1: 47,846
Total Capitalization (GBP): 675,000
Seat: 16
Average cost per job (GBP): 15,341
Number of repeat sales: —
40. Konstantin Khudyakov
The author of paintings on religious subjects. Now he works in digital art technique.
Year of birth: 1945
Artwork: The Last Supper. 2007
Date of sale: 18.02.2011
Price (GBP)1: 46,850
Total Capitalization (GBP): 97,000
Seat: 43
Average cost per job (GBP): 32,333
Number of repeat sales: —
41. Ernst Unknown
An icon of Soviet non-conformism - since he openly objected to General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev at the vernissage of the legendary exhibition dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Moscow Union of Artists. After that, he made a monument on the grave of Khrushchev and a monument in front of the UN European headquarters.
Year of birth: 1925
Composition: "Untitled"
Date of sale: 08.06.2010
Price (GBP)1: 46,850
Total Capitalization (GBP): 2,931,000
Seat: 8
Average cost per job (GBP): 24,839
Number of repeat sales: 13
42. Anatoly Osmolovsky
One of the main figures of Moscow actionism in the 1990s, art theorist, curator, publisher and head of the Baza Institute research and educational program, winner of the first Kandinsky Prize.
Year of birth: 1969
Composition: "Bread" (from the series "Pagans"). 2009
Date of sale: 23.04.2010
Price (GBP)1: 46,850
Total Capitalization (GBP): 83,000
Seat: 46
Average cost per job (GBP): 11,857
Number of repeat sales: —
43. Dmitry Vrubel
Photorealist painter, known mainly for the painting depicting Brezhnev and Honecker kissing (or rather, thanks to the author's reproduction on the Berlin Wall).
Year of birth: 1960
Composition: "Fraternal kiss (triptych)". 1990
Date of sale: 25.11.2013
Price (GBP)1: 45,000
Seat: 40
Average cost per job (GBP): 16,429
Number of repeat sales: 2
44. Leonid Lamm
The author of installations that combined the motifs of the Russian avant-garde and the scenes of Soviet prison life. Lives in America. In the 1970s, on false charges, he spent three years in prisons and labor camps.
Year of birth: 1928
Artwork: "Apple II" (from the series "The Seventh Heaven"). 1974-1986
Sale date: 12/16/2009
Price (GBP)1: 43,910
Total Capitalization (GBP): 115,000
Seat: 41
Average cost per job (GBP): 14,375
Number of repeat sales: —
Picturesque installations by Irina Nakhova of the 1980s in her apartment can claim authorship in the “total.
45. Irina Nakhova
Muse of Moscow Conceptualism. Winner of the Kandinsky Prize 2013 for "Project of the Year". In 2015 at the 56th Venice Biennale
will represent Russia.
Year of birth: 1955
Artwork: Triptych. 1983
Date of sale: 12.03.2008
Price (GBP)1: 38,900
Total Capitalization (GBP): 85,000
Seat: 45
Average cost per job (GBP): 17,000
Number of repeat sales: 1
46. Katya Filippova
An avant-garde fashion designer who became famous during perestroika. Decorated the windows of the Parisian department store Galeries Lafayette, was friends with Pierre Cardin.
Year of birth: 1958
"Artwork: Marina Ladynina" (from the series "Russian Hollywood")
Date of sale: 12.03.2008
Price (GBP)1: 38,900
Total Capitalization (GBP): 39,000
Seat: 49
Average cost per job (GBP): 39,000
Number of repeat sales: —
47. Boris Zaborov
Theater artist, book illustrator. In 1980 he emigrated to Paris, worked on costumes for the Comedie Francaise.
Year of birth: 1935
Artwork: "Communicator".1981
Date of sale: 30.10.2006
Price (GBP)1: 36,356
Total Capitalization (GBP): 67,000
Seat: 47
Average cost per job (GBP): 13,400
Number of repeat sales: 2
48. Rostislav Lebedev
Classical social artist, colleague (and workshop neighbor) of Boris Orlov and Dmitry Prigov. He creatively transformed the visual propaganda of the Soviet era.
Year of birth: 1946
Artwork: "Russian fairy tale". 1949
Date of sale: 03.06.2008
Price (GBP)1: 34,000
Total Capitalization (GBP): 122,000
Seat: 39
Average cost per job (GBP): 24,400
Number of repeat sales: 2
49. Andrey Filippov
Belongs to the Moscow conceptual school. The author of paintings and installations, united by the theme "Moscow - the Third Rome". Since 2009, together with Yuri Albert and Victor Skersis, he has been a member of the Cupid group.
Year of birth: 1959
Artwork: "Seven feet under the keel". 1988
Date of sale: 31.05.2006
Price (GBP)1: 33,600
Total Capitalization (GBP): 137,000
Seat: 37
Average cost per job (GBP): 12,455
Number of repeat sales: 3
50. Vladimir Shinkarev
The founder and ideologist of the Leningrad art group Mitki, in whose novel Mitki this term was first used. The novel was written out of boredom while working in the boiler room.
Year of birth: 1954
Artwork: Lenin Square I. 1999
Date of sale: 30.06.2008
Price (GBP)1: 32,450
Total Capitalization (GBP): 33,000
Seat: 50
Average cost per job (GBP): 16,500
Number of repeat sales: —
Recognition of the market and recognition of the professional community seem to many different things, but the division into "commercial" and "non-commercial" artists is very conditional. So, of the Russian artists exhibited over the past ten years at the Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art (and this is the pinnacle of their professional career), seven units (if you count by person, then 11 people) got into our rating. And the top 10 artists from the ranking either exhibited at the Venice Biennale before, or had solo exhibitions in major museums. As for those wonderful masters who were not included in the rating, their absence or not very outstanding sales are explained simply and tritely. Collectors are conservative and even from the most avant-garde artists prefer to buy paintings (paintings, objects or photographs that look like paintings) or sculptures (or objects that look like sculptures). There are no record-breaking performances or giant installations in our rating (installations are usually bought by museums, but the price there is museum, at a discount). That is why such stars as Andrey Monastyrsky, Oleg Kulik, Pavel Pepperstein(until recently, he mainly did graphics, and graphics are a priori cheaper than painting) or, for example, Nikolay Polissky, whose grandiose designs have not yet found understanding collectors.
In addition, the market is conservative also because recognition here comes slowly - note that in the top 10, all artists born in 1950 or older. That is, the promising participants of the Biennale still have everything ahead of them.
Today, contemporary painting has gained incredible popularity, therefore it has become known not only for its tendency to push boundaries and explore new means of expression, but also for record sales in the contemporary art market over the past few years. Moreover, artists from almost all over the world, from America to Asia, enjoy success. Next, you will find out whose names are represented by the best contemporary painting in the world, who is he, the most expensive contemporary artist, and who is a little short of this title.
Among the myriad of names that modern painting has, the paintings of only certain artists enjoy exceptional success. Among them, the most expensive paintings were the famous neo-expressionist and graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, who, however, died at the age of 27. In our list, you will see only the first seven of those wealthy artists who are alive to this day.
The works of this American author are quite difficult to classify and bring to a single art direction, although he is often referred to as representatives of either minimalism or abstractionism. But unlike artists in these styles, whose paintings seem to have never been touched, Marden's contemporary painting retains palette knife strokes and other traces of his work. One of those who influenced his work is considered to be another contemporary artist Jasper Johns, whose name you will meet later.
This contemporary artist is one of the main figures of the Chinese art scene today. It was his work called "The Last Supper", created based on the famous work of Leonardo da Vinci, was sold for 23.3 million dollars and became the most expensive painting that modern Asian painting can boast of. Also known are the works of the artist "Self-portrait", the triptych "Hospital" and paintings from the series "Masks".
In the 1990s, his painting style often changed and eventually moved from expressionism to symbolism.
Peter Doig is a world-famous Scottish contemporary artist whose work is inspired by the theme of magical realism. Many of his works tend to disorient the viewer, even when they depict recognizable images such as figures, trees, and buildings.
In 2015, his painting "Swamped" managed to break the record and become the most expensive painting by contemporary artists from Scotland, being sold at auction for 25.9 million. Doig's paintings "Architect's House in the Hollow", "White Canoe", "Reflection", "Roadside Diner" and others are also popular.
Contemporary artist Christopher Wool explores various post-conceptual ideas in his work. The artist's most famous modern paintings are block inscriptions depicted in black on a white canvas.
Such paintings by contemporary artists cause a lot of controversy and dissatisfaction among adherents of traditional painting, but, one way or another, one of Wool's works - "Apocalypse" - brought him 26 million dollars. Wool does not think about the titles of the paintings for a long time, but names them according to the inscriptions: “Blue Fool”, “Troubles”, etc.
Contemporary artist Jasper Johns is known for his rebellious attitude towards abstract expressionism, which dominated the painting scene early in his career. Moreover, he works by creating costly canvases with flags, license plates, numbers and other well-known symbols that already have a clear meaning and do not need to be deciphered.
By the way, the most expensive paintings by contemporary artists include the work of the American "Flag", sold at auction in 2010 for $ 28 million. You can also look at the works "Three Flags", "False Start", "From 0 to 9", "Target with Four Faces" and many others.
This contemporary artist from Germany, like many painters at the beginning of his career, studied realistic academic painting, but later became interested in more progressive art.
In the author's work, one can see the influence of many art trends of the 20th century, such as abstract expressionism, pop art, minimalism and conceptualism, but at the same time, Richter retained a skeptical attitude towards all established artistic and philosophical beliefs, being sure that modern painting is dynamics and search. The artist's works include "Land of meadows", "Reading", "1024 colors", "Wall", etc.
And finally, here he is - the most expensive contemporary artist in the world. American Jeff Koons works in the neo-pop style and is known for his catchy, kitsch and defiant creativity.
He is mainly known as the author of a huge number of modern sculptures, some of which were exhibited in Versailles itself. But also among the artist's works there are paintings for which special connoisseurs are ready to give millions of dollars: "Liberty Bell", "Auto", "Girl with a Dolphin and Monkey", "Saddle" and others.
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Paul Cezanne
Country France
Years of life 1839–1906
Style post-impressionism
The artist was born in the south of France in the small town of Aix-en-Provence, but began painting in Paris. Real success came to him after a solo exhibition organized by the collector Ambroise Vollard. In 1886, 20 years before his departure, he moved to the outskirts of his native city. Young artists called trips to him "a pilgrimage to Aix".
130x97 cm
1895
price
$250 million
sold in 2012
at private auction
Cezanne's work is easy to understand. The only rule of the artist was the direct transfer of the subject or plot to the canvas, so his paintings do not cause bewilderment of the viewer. Cezanne combined in his art two main French traditions: classicism and romanticism. With the help of colorful texture, he gave the form of objects an amazing plasticity.
A series of five paintings "Card Players" was written in 1890-1895. Their plot is the same - several people are enthusiastically playing poker. The works differ only in the number of players and the size of the canvas.
Four paintings are kept in museums in Europe and America (the Musée d'Orsay, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Barnes Foundation and the Courtauld Institute of Art), and the fifth, until recently, was an adornment of the private collection of the Greek billionaire shipowner George Embirikos. Shortly before his death, in the winter of 2011, he decided to put it up for sale. Potential buyers of Cezanne's "free" work were art dealer William Aquavella and world-famous gallery owner Larry Gagosian, who offered about $220 million for it. As a result, the painting went to the royal family of the Arab state of Qatar for 250 million. The largest art deal in the history of painting was closed in February 2012. This was reported to Vanity Fair by journalist Alexandra Pierce. She found out the cost of the painting and the name of the new owner, and then the information penetrated the media around the world.
In 2010, the Arab Museum of Modern Art and the Qatar National Museum opened in Qatar. Now their collections are growing. Perhaps the fifth version of The Card Players was acquired by the sheik for this purpose.
Owner
Sheikh Hamad
bin Khalifa al-Thani
The al-Thani dynasty has ruled Qatar for over 130 years. About half a century ago, huge reserves of oil and gas were discovered here, which instantly made Qatar one of the richest regions in the world. Thanks to the export of hydrocarbons, this small country recorded the largest GDP per capita. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani seized power in 1995, while his father was in Switzerland, with the support of family members. The merit of the current ruler, according to experts, is in a clear strategy for the development of the country, creating a successful image of the state. Qatar now has a constitution and a prime minister, and women have gained the right to vote in parliamentary elections. By the way, it was the Emir of Qatar who founded the Al Jazeera news channel. The authorities of the Arab state pay great attention to culture.
Jackson Pollock
Country USA
Years of life 1912–1956
Style abstract expressionism
Jack the Sprinkler - such a nickname was given to Pollock by the American public for his special painting technique. The artist abandoned the brush and easel, and poured the paint on the surface of the canvas or fiberboard during continuous movement around and inside them. From an early age, he was fond of the philosophy of Jiddu Krishnamurti, the main message of which is that the truth is revealed during a free "outpouring".
122x244 cm
1948
price
$140 million
sold in 2006 year
on the auction Sotheby's
The value of Pollock's work is not in the result, but in the process. The author did not accidentally call his art "action painting". With his light hand, it became the main asset of America. Jackson Pollock mixed paint with sand, broken glass, and wrote with a piece of cardboard, a palette knife, a knife, a shovel. The artist was so popular that in the 1950s there were even imitators in the USSR. The painting "Number 5" is recognized as one of the strangest and most expensive in the world. One of the founders of DreamWorks, David Geffen, bought it for a private collection, and in 2006 sold it at Sotheby`s for $140 million to Mexican collector David Martinez. However, the law firm soon issued a press release on behalf of its client stating that David Martinez was not the owner of the painting. Only one thing is known for certain: the Mexican financier has indeed recently collected works of contemporary art. It is unlikely that he would have missed such a "big fish" as Pollock's "Number 5".
Willem de Kooning
Country USA
Years of life 1904–1997
Style abstract expressionism
A native of the Netherlands, he emigrated to the United States in 1926. In 1948, a personal exhibition of the artist took place. Art critics appreciated the complex, nervous black-and-white compositions, recognizing in their author a great modernist artist. For most of his life he suffered from alcoholism, but the joy of creating new art is felt in every work. De Kooning is distinguished by the impulsiveness of painting, broad strokes, which is why sometimes the image does not fit within the boundaries of the canvas.
121x171 cm
1953
price
$137 million
sold in 2006 year
at private auction
In the 1950s, women with empty eyes, massive breasts, and ugly features appear in de Kooning's paintings. "Woman III" was the last work from this series participating in the auction.
Since the 1970s, the painting has been kept in the Tehran Museum of Modern Art, but after the introduction of strict moral rules in the country, they sought to get rid of it. In 1994, the work was taken out of Iran, and 12 years later, its owner David Geffen (the same producer who sold Jackson Pollock's "Number 5") sold the painting to millionaire Stephen Cohen for $137.5 million. It is interesting that in one year Geffen began to sell his collection of paintings. This gave rise to a lot of rumors: for example, that the producer decided to buy the Los Angeles Times.
At one of the art forums, an opinion was expressed about the similarity of "Woman III" with the painting by Leonardo da Vinci "Lady with an Ermine". Behind the toothy smile and shapeless figure of the heroine, the connoisseur of painting discerned the grace of a person of royal blood. This is also evidenced by the poorly traced crown crowning the head of a woman.
Gustav Klimt
Country Austria
Years of life 1862–1918
Style modern
Gustav Klimt was born into the family of an engraver and was the second of seven children. Three sons of Ernest Klimt became artists, and only Gustav became famous all over the world. He spent most of his childhood in poverty. After the death of his father, he was responsible for the entire family. It was at this time that Klimt developed his style. Before his paintings, any viewer freezes: under the thin strokes of gold, frank eroticism is clearly visible.
138x136 cm
1907
price
$135 million
sold in 2006 year
on the auction Sotheby's
The fate of the painting, which is called the "Austrian Mona Lisa", could easily become the basis for a bestseller. The work of the artist became the cause of the conflict of the whole state and one elderly lady.
So, the “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” depicts an aristocrat, the wife of Ferdinand Bloch. Her last will was to transfer the painting to the Austrian State Gallery. However, Bloch canceled the donation in his will, and the Nazis expropriated the painting. Later, the gallery hardly bought out the Golden Adele, but then the heiress appeared - Maria Altman, Ferdinand Bloch's niece.
In 2005, the high-profile trial "Maria Altman against the Republic of Austria" began, as a result of which the picture "left" with her to Los Angeles. Austria took unprecedented measures: loans were negotiated, the population donated money to buy the portrait. Good never conquered evil: Altman raised the price to $300 million. At the time of the trial, she was 79 years old, and she went down in history as the person who changed the will of Bloch-Bauer in favor of personal interests. The painting was purchased by Ronald Lauder, owner of the New Gallery in New York, where it remains to this day. Not for Austria, for him Altman reduced the price to $135 million.
Edvard Munch
Country Norway
Years of life 1863–1944
Style expressionism
Munch's first painting, which became famous all over the world, "The Sick Girl" (exists in five copies) is dedicated to the artist's sister, who died of tuberculosis at the age of 15. Munch has always been interested in the theme of death and loneliness. In Germany, his heavy, manic painting even provoked a scandal. However, despite the depressing plots, his paintings have a special magnetism. Take at least "Scream".
73.5x91 cm
1895
price
$119.992 million
sold in 2012
on the auction Sotheby's
The full name of the painting is Der Schrei der Natur (translated from German as “the cry of nature”). The face of either a person or an alien expresses despair and panic - the viewer experiences the same emotions when looking at the picture. One of the key works of expressionism warns the themes that have become acute in the art of the 20th century. According to one version, the artist created it under the influence of a mental disorder, which he suffered all his life.
The painting was stolen twice from different museums, but it was returned. Slightly damaged after the theft, The Scream was restored and was ready to be shown again at the Munch Museum in 2008. For representatives of pop culture, the work became a source of inspiration: Andy Warhol created a series of its prints-copies, and the mask from the movie "Scream" was made in the image and likeness of the hero of the picture.
For one plot, Munch wrote four versions of the work: the one in a private collection is made in pastel. Norwegian billionaire Petter Olsen put it up for auction on May 2, 2012. The buyer was Leon Black, who did not spare a record amount for the "Scream". Founder of Apollo Advisors, L.P. and Lion Advisors, L.P. known for his love of art. Black is a patron of Dartmouth College, the Museum of Modern Art, the Lincoln Art Center, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It has the largest collection of paintings by contemporary artists and classical masters of past centuries.
Pablo Picasso
Country Spain, France
Years of life 1881–1973
Style cubism
By origin he is a Spaniard, but in spirit and place of residence he is a real Frenchman. Picasso opened his own art studio in Barcelona when he was only 16 years old. Then he went to Paris and spent most of his life there. That is why there is a double stress in his last name. The style invented by Picasso is based on the denial of the opinion that the object depicted on the canvas can be viewed from only one angle.
130x162 cm
1932
price
$106.482 million
sold in 2010 year
on the auction Christie's
During his work in Rome, the artist met the dancer Olga Khokhlova, who soon became his wife. He put an end to vagrancy, moved with her to a luxurious apartment. By that time, recognition had found a hero, but the marriage was destroyed. One of the most expensive paintings in the world was created almost by accident - out of great love, which, as always with Picasso, was short-lived. In 1927, he became interested in the young Marie-Therese Walter (she was 17 years old, he was 45). Secretly from his wife, he left with his mistress for a town near Paris, where he painted a portrait depicting Marie-Therese in the image of Daphne. The painting was purchased by New York dealer Paul Rosenberg and sold in 1951 to Sidney F. Brody. The Brodys showed the painting to the world only once, and only because the artist was 80 years old. After her husband's death, Mrs. Brody put the work up for auction at Christie's in March 2010. In six decades, the price has risen more than 5,000 times! An unknown collector bought it for $106.5 million. In 2011, a “one-painting exhibition” was held in Britain, where it saw the light for the second time, but the name of the owner is still unknown.
Andy Warhole
Country USA
Years of life 1928-1987
Style
pop Art
“Sex and parties are the only places where you need to appear in person,” said the cult pop artist, director, and one of the founders of Interview magazine, designer Andy Warhol. He worked with Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, designed record covers, and designed shoes for I.Miller. In the 1960s, paintings appeared depicting the symbols of America: Campbell`s soup and Coca-Cola, Presley and Monroe - which made him a legend.
358x208 cm
1963
price
$100 million
sold in 2008
at private auction
Warhol's 60s - the so-called era of pop art in America. In 1962, he worked in Manhattan at the Factory Studio, where all the bohemia of New York gathered. Its brightest representatives: Mick Jagger, Bob Dylan, Truman Capote and other famous personalities in the world. At the same time, Warhol tried the technique of silk-screen printing - multiple repetitions of one image. He also used this method when creating "Eight Elvises": the viewer seems to see frames from a movie where the star comes to life. Everything that the artist loved so much is here: a win-win public image, silver color and a premonition of death as the main message.
There are two art dealers promoting Warhol's work on the world market today: Larry Gagosian and Alberto Mugrabi. The first in 2008 spent $200 million to purchase more than 15 Warhol works. The second buys and sells his paintings like Christmas cards, only more expensive. But it was not them, but the humble French art consultant Philippe Segalo who helped Roman art connoisseur Annibale Berlinghieri sell the Eight Elvises to an unknown buyer for a Warhol-record $100 million.
Mark Rothko
Country USA
Years of life 1903–1970
Style abstract expressionism
One of the creators of color field painting was born in Dvinsk, Russia (now Daugavpils, Latvia), in a large family of a Jewish pharmacist. In 1911 they emigrated to the USA. Rothko studied at the art department of Yale University, achieved a scholarship, but anti-Semitic sentiments forced him to leave his studies. Despite everything, art critics idolized the artist, and museums pursued him all his life.
206x236 cm
1961
price
$86.882 million
sold in 2012
on the auction Christie's
Rothko's first artistic experiments were of a surrealist orientation, but over time he simplified the plot to color spots, depriving them of any objectivity. At first they had bright hues, and in the 1960s they were filled with brown, purple, thickening to black by the time of the artist's death. Mark Rothko warned against looking for any meaning in his paintings. The author wanted to say exactly what he said: only the color that dissolves in the air, and nothing more. He recommended looking at the works from a distance of 45 cm, so that the viewer is "dragged" into the color, like into a funnel. Caution: viewing in accordance with all the rules can lead to the effect of meditation, that is, the awareness of infinity gradually comes, complete immersion in oneself, relaxation, purification. The color in his paintings lives, breathes and has a strong emotional impact (sometimes it is said to be healing). The artist said: "The viewer should cry looking at them" - and there really were such cases. According to Rothko's theory, at this moment people live the same spiritual experience that he had in the process of working on the picture. If you managed to understand it at such a subtle level, then do not be surprised that these works of abstractionism are often compared by critics with icons.
The work "Orange, Red, Yellow" expresses the essence of Mark Rothko's painting. Its initial cost at Christie's auction in New York is 35-45 million dollars. An unknown buyer offered a price twice the estimate. The name of the happy owner of the painting, as is often the case, was not disclosed.
Francis Bacon
Country
Great Britain
Years of life 1909–1992
Style expressionism
The adventures of Francis Bacon, a full namesake and, moreover, a distant descendant of the great philosopher, began when his father disowned him, unable to accept his son's homosexual inclinations. Bacon went first to Berlin, then to Paris, and then his traces are confused all over Europe. Even during his lifetime, his works were exhibited in the leading cultural centers of the world, including the Guggenheim Museum and the Tretyakov Gallery.
147.5x198 cm (each)
1976
price
$86.2 million
sold in 2008
on the auction Sotheby's
Prestigious museums strove to possess paintings by Bacon, but the prim English public was in no hurry to fork out for such art. The legendary British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said of him: "The man who paints these horrific pictures."
The starting period in his work, the artist himself considered the post-war period. Returning from the service, he again took up painting and created the main masterpieces. Prior to the participation of "Triptych, 1976" in the auction, Bacon's most expensive work was "Study for a Portrait of Pope Innocent X" (52.7 million dollars). In the "Triptych, 1976" the artist depicted the mythical plot of the persecution of Orestes by the furies. Of course, Orestes is Bacon himself, and the furies are his torments. For more than 30 years, the painting was in a private collection and did not participate in exhibitions. This fact gives it a special value and, accordingly, increases the cost. But what is a few million for a connoisseur of art, and even generous in Russian? Roman Abramovich began to create his collection in the 1990s, in this he was significantly influenced by his girlfriend Dasha Zhukova, who has become a fashionable gallery owner in modern Russia. According to unofficial data, the businessman owns works by Alberto Giacometti and Pablo Picasso, bought for amounts exceeding $100 million. In 2008, he became the owner of the Triptych. By the way, in 2011, another valuable work by Bacon was acquired - "Three sketches for a portrait of Lucian Freud." Hidden sources say that Roman Arkadievich again became the buyer.
Claude Monet
Country France
Years of life 1840–1926
Style impressionism
The artist is recognized as the founder of impressionism, who "patented" this method in his canvases. The first significant work was the painting "Breakfast on the Grass" (the original version of the work of Edouard Manet). In his youth, he drew caricatures, and took up real painting during his travels along the coast and in the open air. In Paris, he led a bohemian lifestyle and did not leave it even after serving in the army.
210x100 cm
1919
price
$80.5 million
sold in 2008
on the auction Christie's
Besides the fact that Monet was a great artist, he was also enthusiastically engaged in gardening, adored wildlife and flowers. In his landscapes, the state of nature is momentary, objects seem to be blurred by the movement of air. The impression is enhanced by large strokes, from a certain distance they become invisible and merge into a textured, three-dimensional image. In the painting of the late Monet, a special place is occupied by the theme of water and life in it. In the town of Giverny, the artist had his own pond, where he grew water lilies from seeds specially brought by him from Japan. When their flowers bloomed, he began to paint. The Water Lilies series consists of 60 works that the artist painted over almost 30 years, until his death. His vision deteriorated with age, but he did not stop. Depending on the wind, season and weather, the view of the pond was constantly changing, and Monet wanted to capture these changes. Through careful work, an understanding of the essence of nature came to him. Some of the paintings of the series are kept in the leading galleries of the world: National Museum of Western Art (Tokyo), Orangerie (Paris). The version of the next "Pond with water lilies" went into the hands of an unknown buyer for a record amount.
Jasper Johns
Country USA
Year of birth 1930
Style pop Art
In 1949, Jones entered the design school in New York. Along with Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and others, he is recognized as one of the main artists of the 20th century. In 2012, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.
137.2x170.8 cm
1959
price
$80 million
sold in 2006 year
at private auction
Like Marcel Duchamp, Jones worked with real objects, depicting them on canvas and in sculpture in full accordance with the original. For his works, he used simple and understandable objects for everyone: a beer bottle, a flag or maps. There is no clear composition in the False Start picture. The artist seems to be playing with the viewer, often “incorrectly” signing the colors in the picture, turning the very concept of color upside down: “I wanted to find a way to depict the color so that it could be determined by some other method.” His most explosive and "insecure", according to critics, painting was acquired by an unknown buyer.
Amedeo Modigliani
Country Italy, France
Years of life 1884–1920
Style expressionism
Modigliani was often ill from childhood, during a feverish delirium, he recognized his destiny as an artist. He studied drawing in Livorno, Florence, Venice, and in 1906 he left for Paris, where his art flourished.
65x100 cm
1917
price
$68.962 million
sold in 2010 year
on the auction Sotheby's
In 1917, Modigliani met 19-year-old Jeanne Hebuterne, who became his model and later his wife. In 2004, one of her portraits sold for $31.3 million, the last record before the sale of Seated Nude on a Sofa in 2010. The painting was purchased by an unknown buyer for the maximum price for Modigliani at the moment. Active sales of works began only after the death of the artist. He died in poverty, suffering from tuberculosis, and the next day, Jeanne Hebuterne, who was nine months pregnant, also committed suicide.
Qi Baishi
Country China
Years of life 1864–1957
Style guohua
Interest in calligraphy led Qi Baishi to paint. At the age of 28, he became a student of the artist Hu Qingyuan. The Ministry of Culture of China awarded him the title of "Great Artist of the Chinese People", in 1956 he received the International Peace Prize.
10x26 cm
1946
price
$65.4 million
sold in 2011
on the auction China Guardian
Qi Baishi was interested in those manifestations of the surrounding world, which many do not attach importance to, and this is his greatness. A man without education became a professor and an outstanding creator in history. Pablo Picasso said about him: "I'm afraid to go to your country, because there is Qi Baishi in China." The composition "Eagle on a Pine Tree" is recognized as the largest work of the artist. In addition to the canvas, it includes two hieroglyphic scrolls. For China, the amount for which the product was bought is a record - 425.5 million yuan. Only the scroll of the ancient calligrapher Huang Tingjian was sold for 436.8 million dollars.
Clifford Still
Country USA
Years of life 1904–1980
Style abstract expressionism
At the age of 20, he visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and was disappointed. Later, he signed up for a student arts league course, but left 45 minutes after the start of the class - it turned out to be “not his”. The first personal exhibition caused a resonance, the artist found himself, and with it recognition
79x93 cm
1949
price
$61.7 million
sold in 2011
on the auction Sotheby's
All his works, which are more than 800 canvases and 1600 works on paper, Still bequeathed to the American city, where a museum named after him will be opened. Denver became such a city, but only the construction was expensive for the authorities, and four works were put up for auction to complete it. Still's works are unlikely to be auctioned ever again, which raised their price in advance. Painting "1949-A-No.1" sold for a record amount for the artist, although experts predicted the sale of a maximum of 25-35 million dollars.
Kazimir Malevich
Country Russia
Years of life 1878–1935
Style Suprematism
Malevich studied painting at the Kyiv Art School, then at the Moscow Academy of Arts. In 1913, he began to paint abstract geometric paintings in a style that he called Suprematism (from Latin “dominance”).
71x 88.5 cm
1916
price
$60 million
sold in 2008
on the auction Sotheby's
The painting was kept in the city museum of Amsterdam for about 50 years, but after a 17-year dispute with Malevich's relatives, the museum gave it away. The artist painted this work in the same year as The Manifesto of Suprematism, so Sotheby`s even before the auction announced that it would not go into a private collection for less than $60 million. And so it happened. It is better to look at it from above: the figures on the canvas resemble an aerial view of the earth. By the way, a few years earlier, the same relatives expropriated another "Suprematist composition" from the MoMA Museum in order to sell it at Phillips for $17 million.
Paul Gauguin
Country France
Years of life 1848–1903
Style post-impressionism
Until the age of seven, the artist lived in Peru, then returned to France with his family, but childhood memories constantly pushed him to travel. In France, he began to paint, was friends with Van Gogh. He even spent several months with him in Arles, until Van Gogh cut off his ear during a quarrel.
93.4x60.4 cm
1902
price
$55 million
sold in 2005
on the auction Sotheby's
In 1891, Gauguin arranged a sale of his paintings in order to use the proceeds to go deep into the island of Tahiti. There he created works in which one can feel the subtle connection between nature and man. Gauguin lived in a thatched hut, and a tropical paradise blossomed on his canvases. His wife was a 13-year-old Tahitian Tehura, which did not prevent the artist from engaging in promiscuity. Having contracted syphilis, he left for France. However, Gauguin was cramped there, and he returned to Tahiti. This period is called the "second Tahitian" - it was then that the painting "Bathers" was painted, one of the most luxurious in his work.
Henri Matisse
Country France
Years of life 1869–1954
Style Fauvism
In 1889, Henri Matisse had an attack of appendicitis. When he recovered from the operation, his mother bought him paints. First, out of boredom, Matisse copied colored postcards, then - the works of great painters that he saw in the Louvre, and at the beginning of the 20th century he came up with a style - fauvism.
65.2x81 cm
1911
price
$46.4 million
sold in 2009
on the auction Christie's
The painting "Daffodils and a Tablecloth in Blue and Pink" belonged to Yves Saint Laurent for a long time. After the death of the couturier, his entire collection of art passed into the hands of his friend and lover Pierre Berger, who decided to put it up for auction at Christie's. The pearl of the sold collection was the painting "Daffodils and a tablecloth in blue and pink", painted on an ordinary tablecloth instead of canvas. As an example of Fauvism, it is filled with the energy of color, the colors seem to explode and scream. Of the well-known series of tablecloth paintings, today this work is the only one that is in a private collection.
RoyLee
chtenstein
Country USA
Years of life 1923–1997
Style pop Art
The artist was born in New York, and after graduating from school, he went to Ohio, where he went to art courses. In 1949, Liechtenstein received his Master of Fine Arts degree. Interest in comics and the ability to be ironic made him a cult artist of the last century.
91x91 cm
1964
price
$44.882 million
sold in 2012
on the auction Sotheby's
Once, chewing gum fell into Liechtenstein's hands. He redrawn the picture from the insert on the canvas and became famous. This plot from his biography contains the whole message of pop art: consumption is the new god, and there is no less beauty in a gum wrapper than in Mona Lisa. His paintings are reminiscent of comics and cartoons: Lichtenstein simply enlarged the finished image, drew rasters, used screen printing and silkscreen printing. The painting "Sleeping Girl" belonged to collectors Beatrice and Philip Gersh for almost 50 years, whose heirs sold it at auction.
Piet Mondrian
Country Netherlands
Years of life 1872–1944
Style neoplasticism
His real name - Cornelis - the artist changed to Mondrian when he moved to Paris in 1912. Together with the artist Theo van Doesburg, he founded the neoplastic movement. The Piet programming language is named after Mondrian.
27x127 cm
1944
price
$40 million
sold in 1998
on the auction Sotheby's
The most "musical" of the artists of the 20th century made a living with watercolor still lifes, although he became famous as a neoplastic artist. He moved to the USA in the 1940s and spent the rest of his life there. Jazz and New York - that's what inspired him the most! Painting "Victory. Boogie Woogie is the best example of this. "Branded" neat squares were obtained through the use of adhesive tape - Mondrian's favorite material. In America, he was called "the most famous immigrant." In the sixties, Yves Saint Laurent produced the world-famous "Mondrian" dresses with a large colored check print.
BasilKandinsky
Country Russia
Years of life 1866–1944
Style avant-garde
The artist was born in Moscow, and his father was from Siberia. After the revolution, he tried to cooperate with the Soviet authorities, but soon realized that the laws of the proletariat were not created for him, and emigrated to Germany not without difficulties.
275x190 cm
1911
price
$40 million
sold in 2007
on the auction Sotheby's
Kandinsky was one of the first to completely abandon object painting, for which he received the title of genius. During Nazism in Germany, his paintings were classified as "degenerate art" and were not exhibited anywhere. In 1939, Kandinsky took French citizenship, in Paris he freely participated in the artistic process. His paintings “sound” like fugues, which is why many are called “compositions” (the first was written in 1910, the last in 1939). “Composition No. 5” is one of the key works in this genre: “The word “composition” sounded like a prayer to me,” the artist said. Unlike many followers, he planned what he would depict on a huge canvas, as if writing notes.
Fernand Léger
Country France
Years of life 1881–1955
Style cubism-post-impressionism
Leger received an architectural education, and then was a student at the School of Fine Arts in Paris. The artist considered himself a follower of Cezanne, was an apologist for cubism, and in the 20th century he also had success as a sculptor.
96.5x129.5 cm
1912–1913
price
$39.2 million
sold in 2008
on the auction Sotheby's
David Normann, president of Sotheby's International Impressionism and Modernism, believes the huge sum paid for The Lady in Blue is entirely justified. The painting belongs to the famous Leger collection (the artist painted three paintings on one plot, the last of them is in private hands today. - Ed.), and the surface of the canvas has been preserved in its original form. The author himself gave this work to the Der Sturm gallery, then it ended up in the collection of Hermann Lang, a German collector of modernism, and now belongs to an unknown buyer.
Ernst LudwigKirchner
Country Germany
Years of life 1880–1938
Style expressionism
For German expressionism, Kirchner became a landmark person. However, local authorities accused him of adherence to "degenerate art", which tragically affected the fate of his paintings and the life of the artist, who committed suicide in 1938.
95x121 cm
1913
price
$38.096 million
sold in 2006 year
on the auction Christie's
After moving to Berlin, Kirchner created 11 sketches of street scenes. He was inspired by the bustle and nervousness of the big city. In the painting, sold in 2006 in New York, the artist's anxiety is especially acute: people on a Berlin street resemble birds - graceful and dangerous. She was the last work from the famous series, sold at auction, the rest are kept in museums. In 1937, the Nazis brutally treated Kirchner: 639 of his works were seized from German galleries, destroyed or sold abroad. The artist could not survive this.
Edgar Degas
Country France
Years of life 1834–1917
Style impressionism
The history of Degas as an artist began with the fact that he worked as a copyist in the Louvre. He dreamed of becoming "famous and unknown", and in the end he succeeded. At the end of his life, deaf and blind, 80-year-old Degas continued to attend exhibitions and auctions.
64x59 cm
1879
price
$37.043 million
sold in 2008
on the auction Sotheby's
“Ballerinas have always been for me just an excuse to depict fabrics and capture movement,” said Degas. The scenes from the life of the dancers seem to be peeped: the girls do not pose for the artist, but simply become part of the atmosphere caught by Degas's gaze. Resting Dancer sold for $28 million in 1999, and less than 10 years later it was bought for $37 million - today it is the artist's most expensive work ever put up for auction. Degas paid much attention to frames, he designed them himself and forbade changing them. I wonder what frame is installed on the sold painting?
Juan Miro
Country Spain
Years of life 1893–1983
Style abstract art
During the Spanish Civil War, the artist was on the side of the Republicans. In 1937, he fled from fascist power to Paris, where he lived in poverty with his family. During this period, Miro paints the painting "Help Spain!", Drawing the attention of the whole world to the dominance of fascism.
89x115 cm
1927
price
$36.824 million
sold in 2012
on the auction Sotheby's
The second name of the painting is "Blue Star". The artist wrote it in the same year when he announced: “I want to kill painting” and mercilessly mocked the canvases, scratching the paint with nails, gluing feathers to the canvas, covering the work with garbage. His goal was to debunk the myths about the mystery of painting, but, having coped with this, Miro created his own myth - a surreal abstraction. His "Painting" refers to the cycle of "pictures-dreams". Four buyers fought for it at the auction, but one incognito phone call settled the dispute, and "Painting" became the artist's most expensive painting.
Yves Klein
Country France
Years of life 1928–1962
Style monochrome painting
The artist was born into a family of painters, but studied oriental languages, navigation, the craft of a gilder of frames, Zen Buddhism and much more. His personality and impudent antics were many times more interesting than monochrome paintings.
153x199x16 cm
1960
price
$36.779 million
sold in 2012
at Christie's auction
The first exhibition of solid yellow, orange, pink works did not arouse public interest. Klein was offended and the next time he presented 11 identical canvases, painted with ultramarine mixed with a special synthetic resin. He even patented this method. The color went down in history as the "International Klein Blue". The artist also sold emptiness, created paintings by exposing paper to rain, setting fire to cardboard, making prints of a human body on canvas. In a word, I experimented as best I could. To create the "Blue Rose" I used dry pigments, resins, pebbles and a natural sponge.
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Country Great Britain
Years of life 1836–1912
Style neoclassicism
Sir Lawrence himself added the prefix "alma" to his surname in order to appear first in art catalogs. In Victorian England, his paintings were so in demand that the artist was awarded a knighthood.
213.4x136.7 cm
1902
price
$35.922 million
sold in 2011
on the auction Sotheby's
The main theme of Alma-Tadema's work was antiquity. In the paintings, he tried to depict the era of the Roman Empire in the smallest detail, for this he even engaged in archaeological excavations on the Apennine Peninsula, and in his London house he reproduced the historical interior of those years. Mythological stories became another source of inspiration for him. The artist was in great demand during his lifetime, but after his death he was quickly forgotten. Now interest is reviving, as evidenced by the cost of the painting "In Search of Moses", seven times higher than the pre-sale estimate.
Lucian Freud
Country Germany,
Great Britain
Years of life 1922–2011
Style figurative painting
The artist is the grandson of Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis. After the establishment of fascism in Germany, his family emigrated to the UK. Freud's works are in the Wallace Collection in London, where no contemporary artist has previously exhibited.
219.1x151.4 cm
1995
price
$33.6 million
sold in 2008
on the auction Christie's
While the fashionable artists of the 20th century created positive "color spots on the wall" and sold them for millions, Freud painted extremely naturalistic paintings and sold them for even more. “I capture the cries of the soul and the suffering of withering flesh,” he said. Critics believe that all this is the "legacy" of Sigmund Freud. The paintings were so actively exhibited and successfully sold that the experts had a doubt: do they have hypnotic properties? Sold at auction, "Portrait of a sleeping naked official", according to the Sun, was acquired by connoisseur of beauty and billionaire Roman Abramovich.
Xone gris
Country Spain
Years of life 1887–1927
Style cubism
Born in Madrid, where he graduated from the School of Arts and Crafts. In 1906 he moved to Paris and entered the circle of the most influential artists of the era: Picasso, Modigliani, Braque, Matisse, Leger, also worked with Sergei Diaghilev and his troupe.
5x100 cm
1913
price
$28.642 million
sold in 2010 year
on the auction Christie's
Gris, in his own words, was engaged in "planar, colored architecture." His paintings are precisely thought out: he did not leave a single accidental stroke, which makes creativity related to geometry. The artist created his own version of cubism, although he had great respect for Pablo Picasso, the founding father of the movement. The successor even dedicated his first Cubist work, Tribute to Picasso, to him. The painting "Violin and Guitar" is recognized as outstanding in the artist's work. During his lifetime, Gris was known, favored by critics and art historians. His works are exhibited in the world's largest museums and are kept in private collections.
Salvador Dali
Country Spain
Years of life 1904–1989
Style surrealism
“Surrealism is me,” Dali said when he was expelled from the Surrealist group. Over time, he became the most famous surrealist artist. Dali's work is everywhere, not just in galleries. For example, it was he who came up with the packaging for Chupa-Chups.
25x33 cm
1929
price
$20.6 million
sold in 2011
on the auction Sotheby's
In 1929, the poet Paul Eluard and his Russian wife Gala came to visit the great provocateur and brawler Dali. The meeting was the beginning of a love story that lasted more than half a century. The painting "Portrait of Paul Eluard" was painted just during this historic visit. “I felt that I was entrusted with the duty to capture the face of the poet, from whose Olympus I stole one of the muses,” the artist said. Before meeting Gala, he was a virgin and was disgusted at the thought of having sex with a woman. The love triangle existed until the death of Eluard, after which it became the Dali-Gala duet.
Marc Chagall
Country Russia, France
Years of life 1887–1985
Style avant-garde
Moishe Segal was born in Vitebsk, but in 1910 he emigrated to Paris, changed his name, and became close to the leading avant-garde artists of the era. In the 1930s, when the Nazis seized power, he left for the United States with the help of an American consul. He returned to France only in 1948.
80x103 cm
1923
price
$14.85 million
sold in 1990
at Sotheby's auction
The painting "Jubilee" is recognized as one of the best works of the artist. It has all the features of his work: the physical laws of the world are erased, the feeling of a fairy tale is preserved in the scenery of petty-bourgeois life, and love is in the center of the plot. Chagall did not draw people from nature, but only from memory or fantasizing. The painting "Jubilee" depicts the artist himself with his wife Bela. The painting was sold in 1990 and has not been bid since. Interestingly, the New York Museum of Modern Art MoMA keeps exactly the same, only under the name "Birthday". By the way, it was written earlier - in 1915.
draft prepared
Tatyana Palasova
rating compiled
according to the list www.art-spb.ru
tmn magazine №13
(May-June 2013)
