American landscape painters of the 21st century. Modern Russian artists worth a closer look

The majestic and diverse Russian painting always pleases the audience with its inconstancy and perfection of art forms. This is the peculiarity of the works of famous masters of art. They always surprised with their unusual approach to work, reverent attitude to the feelings and sensations of each person. Perhaps that is why Russian artists so often depicted portrait compositions that vividly combined emotional images and epicly calm motifs. No wonder Maxim Gorky once said that an artist is the heart of his country, the voice of the entire era. Indeed, the majestic and elegant paintings of Russian artists vividly convey the inspiration of their time. Like the aspirations of the famous author Anton Chekhov, many sought to bring into Russian paintings the unique flavor of their people, as well as the unquenchable dream of beauty. It is difficult to underestimate the extraordinary canvases of these masters of majestic art, because truly extraordinary works of various genres were born under their brush. Academic painting, portrait, historical painting, landscape, works of romanticism, modernism or symbolism - all of them still bring joy and inspiration to their viewers. Everyone finds in them something more than colorful colors, graceful lines and inimitable genres of world art. Perhaps such an abundance of forms and images that Russian painting surprises with is connected with the huge potential of the surrounding world of artists. Levitan also said that in every note of lush nature there is a majestic and unusual palette of colors. With such a beginning, a magnificent expanse appears for the artist's brush. Therefore, all Russian paintings are distinguished by their exquisite severity and attractive beauty, from which it is so difficult to break away.

Russian painting is rightly distinguished from world art. The fact is that until the seventeenth century, domestic painting was associated exclusively with a religious theme. The situation changed with the coming to power of the tsar-reformer - Peter the Great. Thanks to his reforms, Russian masters began to engage in secular painting, and icon painting separated as a separate direction. The seventeenth century is the time of such artists as Simon Ushakov and Iosif Vladimirov. Then, in the Russian art world, the portrait was born and quickly became popular. In the eighteenth century, the first artists appeared who switched from portraiture to landscape painting. The pronounced sympathy of the masters for winter panoramas is noticeable. The eighteenth century was also remembered for the birth of everyday painting. In the nineteenth century, three trends gained popularity in Russia: romanticism, realism and classicism. As before, Russian artists continued to turn to the portrait genre. It was then that world-famous portraits and self-portraits of O. Kiprensky and V. Tropinin appeared. In the second half of the nineteenth century, artists more and more often depict the simple Russian people in their oppressed state. Realism becomes the central trend of painting of this period. It was then that the Wanderers appeared, depicting only real, real life. Well, the twentieth century is, of course, the avant-garde. The artists of that time significantly influenced both their followers in Russia and around the world. Their paintings became the forerunners of abstractionism. Russian painting is a huge wonderful world of talented artists who glorified Russia with their creations

The rating of the most expensive works by living artists is a construction that speaks about the role and place of the artist in the history of art much less than about age and health

The rules for compiling our rating are simple: firstly, only transactions with works by living authors are taken into account; secondly, only public auction sales are taken into account; and thirdly, the rule "one artist - one work" is observed (if two records belong to Jones in the rating of works, then only the most expensive one remains, and the rest are not taken into account). Ranking is carried out in terms of dollars (at the exchange rate on the date of sale).

1. JEFF KOONS Rabbit. 1986. $91.075 million

The longer you watch the auction career of Jeff Koons (1955), the more you become convinced that nothing is impossible for pop art. You can admire the Koons sculptures in the form of balloon toys, or you can consider them kitsch and bad taste - your right. One thing cannot be denied: Jeff Koons installations cost crazy money.

Jeff Koons began his journey to fame as the world's most successful living artist back in 2007, when his giant metal installation Hanging Heart was bought for $23.6 million at Sotheby's. The work was bought by the Larry Gagosian Gallery representing Koons (in they wrote to the press that it was in the interests of the Ukrainian billionaire Viktor Pinchuk.) The gallery acquired not just an installation, but, in fact, a work of jewelry art. 2.7 m weighs 1,600 kg), but it has a similar purpose. Over six and a half thousand hours were spent on the production of a composition with a heart covered with ten layers of paint. As a result, gigantic money was paid for the spectacular “decoration”.

Next was the sale of the Purple Balloon Flower for £12.92 million ($25.8 million) at Christie's London on June 30, 2008. Interestingly, seven years earlier, the previous owners of "Flower" bought the work for $1.1 million. It is easy to calculate that during this time its market price has increased by almost 25 times.

The downturn in the art market in 2008-2009 gave skeptics a reason to slander that the fashion for Koons has passed. But they were wrong: along with the art market, interest in the works of Koons was revived. Andy Warhol's successor to the throne of the king of pop art updated his personal best in November 2012 with the sale at Christie's of a multi-colored sculpture "Tulips" from the "Triumph" series for $ 33.7 million, including commission.

But "Tulips" were "flowers" in the literal and figurative sense. Just a year later, in November 2013, the sale of the stainless steel balloon dog (orange) sculpture followed: the price of the hammer was as much as $58.4 million! A fabulous sum for a living artist. The work of a contemporary author was sold for the price of a Van Gogh or Picasso painting. Those were the berries...

With this result, Koons reigned at the top of the rankings of living artists for several years. In November 2018, he was briefly surpassed by David Hockney (see second place in our ranking). But just six months later, everything returned to normal: on May 15, 2019, in New York, at the auction of post-war and contemporary art, Christie’s put up for sale a textbook sculpture for Koons in 1986 - a silver “Rabbit” made of stainless steel, imitating a balloon of a similar shape.

In total, Koons created 3 such sculptures plus one author's copy. The auction included a copy of "Rabbit" number 2 - from the collection of the cult publisher Cy Newhouse, co-owner of the publishing house Conde Nast (magazines Vogue, Vanity Fair, Glamour, GQ, etc.). Silver "Rabbit" was bought by the "father of glamor" Cy Newhouse in 1992 for an impressive amount by the standards of those years - $ 1 million. After 27 years in the struggle of 10 bidders, the price of the hammer of the sculpture was 80 times higher than the previous sale price. And with the Buyer's Premium commission, the final result was a record $91.075 million for all living artists.

2. DAVID HOKNEY Portrait of the artist. Pool with two figures. 1972. $90,312,500

David Hockney (1937) is one of the most important British artists of the 20th century. In 2011, David Hockney was voted the most influential British artist of all time in a survey of thousands of professional British painters and sculptors. At the same time, Hockney bypassed such masters as William Turner and Francis Bacon. His work, as a rule, is attributed to pop art, although in his early works he gravitated more towards expressionism in the spirit of Francis Bacon.

Born and raised David Hockney in England, Yorkshire. The mother of the future artist kept the family in puritanical strictness, and his father, a simple accountant who drew a little at an amateur level, encouraged his son to paint. In his early twenties, David moved to California, where he lived for a total of about three decades. He still has two workshops there. Hockney made the heroes of his works the local rich, their villas, swimming pools, lawns bathed in the California sun. One of his most famous works of the American period - the painting "Splash" - is an image of a sheaf of spray rising from the pool after a person jumped into the water. To depict this sheaf, "living" no more than two seconds, Hockney worked for two weeks. By the way, this painting was sold at Sotheby’s for $5.4 million in 2006 and for some time was considered his most expensive work.

Hockney (1937) is already in his eighties, but he still works and even invents new artistic techniques using technical innovations. Once he came up with the idea of ​​making huge collages from Polaroid pictures, printed his works on fax machines, and today the artist enthusiastically masters drawing on the iPad. The paintings drawn on the tablet take their rightful place at his exhibitions.

In 2005, Hockney finally returned from the States to England. Now he paints in the open air and in the studio huge (often consisting of several parts) landscapes of local forests and wastelands. According to Hockney, in his 30 years in California, he has become so unaccustomed to the simple change of seasons that it truly fascinates and fascinates him. Entire cycles of his recent works are devoted, for example, to the same landscape at different times of the year.

In 2018, Hockney's paintings broke the $10 million mark several times. And on November 15, 2018, a new absolute record for the work of a living artist was registered at Christie's - $ 90,312,500 for the painting "Portrait of the Artist (Pool with Two Figures)".

3. GERHARD RICHTER Abstract painting. 1986. $46.3 million

Living classic Gerhard Richter (1932) ranks second in our ranking. The German artist was the leader among living colleagues until the 58 millionth record of Jeff Koons struck. But it is unlikely that this circumstance can shake Richter's already iron authority on the art market. According to the results of 2012, the annual auction turnover of the German artist is second only to those of Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso.

For many years, nothing foreshadowed the success that has fallen on Richter now. For decades, the artist occupied a modest place in the contemporary art market and did not aspire to fame at all. We can say that fame overtook him by itself. The starting point is considered by many to be New York's MoMA Museum's purchase in 1995 of Richter's October 18, 1977 series. The American Museum paid $3 million for 15 grayscale paintings and soon began thinking about holding a full-fledged retrospective of the German artist. The grandiose exhibition opened six years later, in 2001, and since then interest in Richter's work has grown by leaps and bounds. From 2004 to 2008, the price of his paintings tripled. In 2010, Richter's works have already brought in $76.9 million, in 2011, according to the Artnet website, Richter's works at auction earned a total of $200 million, and in 2012 (according to Artprice) - $262.7 million - more than the work of any other living artist.

While, for example, with Jasper Johns, overwhelming success at auction accompanies mainly only early works, such a sharp division is not typical for Richter’s works: demand is equally stable for things from different creative periods, of which there were a great many in Richter’s career. Over the past sixty years, this artist has tried himself in almost all traditional painting genres - portrait, landscape, marina, nude, still life and, of course, abstraction.

The history of Richter's auction records began with a series of still lifes "Candles". 27 photorealistic images of candles in the early 1980s, at the time they were written, cost only 15,000 German marks ($5,800) per work. But still no one bought Candles at their first exhibition at the Max Hetzler Gallery in Stuttgart. Then the theme of the paintings was called old-fashioned; Today, "Candles" are considered works for all time. And they cost millions of dollars.

In February 2008 "Candle", written in 1983, was unexpectedly bought for £ 7.97 million ($16 million). This personal record stood for three and a half years. Then in October 2011 another one "Candle" (1982) went under the hammer at Christie's already for £ 10.46 million ($16.48 million). With this record, Gerhard Richter entered the top three most successful living artists for the first time, taking his place behind Jasper Johns and Jeff Koons.

Then the victorious procession of Richter's "Abstract Paintings" began. The artist paints such works in a unique author's technique: he applies a mixture of simple paints on a light background, and then smears them on the canvas with a long scraper the size of a car bumper. This results in intricate color transitions, spots and stripes. Examining the surface of his "Abstract Paintings" is like excavations: on them traces of various "figures" look through the gaps of numerous colorful layers.

November 9, 2011 at the auction of modern and post-war art Sotheby's large-scale "Abstract painting (849-3)" 1997 went under the hammer for $20.8m (£13.2m). And six months later, May 8, 2012 at the auction of post-war and contemporary art Christie's in New York "Abstract painting (798-3)" 1993 went for a record $21.8 million(including commission). Five months later - again a record: "Abstract painting (809-4)" from the collection of rock musician Eric Clapton on October 12, 2012 at Sotheby's in London went under the hammer for £ 21.3 million ($34.2 million). The barrier of 30 million was taken by Richter with such ease, as if it were not about modern painting, but about masterpieces that are already a hundred years old - no less. Although in the case of Richter it seems that the inclusion in the pantheon of the "great" took place already during the life of the artist. German prices continue to rise.

Richter's next record belonged to a photorealistic work - a landscape "Cathedral Square, Milan (Domplatz, Mailand)" 1968. The work was sold for 37.1 million at Sotheby's auction May 14, 2013. The view of the most beautiful square was painted by a German artist in 1968 by order of Siemens Electro, especially for the company's Milan office. At the time of its writing, it was Richter's largest figurative work (nearly three by three meters in size).

The Cathedral Square record stood for almost two years, until February 10, 2015 didn't interrupt him "Abstract painting" ( 1986): hammer price reached £ 30.389 million ($46.3 million). The 300.5 × 250.5 cm Abstract Painting, put up for auction at Sotheby’s, is one of Richter’s first large-scale works in his special author’s technique of scraping off layers of paint. The last time in 1999, this "Abstract Painting" was bought at auction for $607 thousand (from this year until the current sale, the work was exhibited at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne). At the auction on February 10, 2015, a certain American client in auction steps of £2 million reached the hammer price of $46.3 million. That is, since 1999, the work has increased in price by more than 76 times!

4. Tsui Zhuzhuo "Great snow-capped mountains." 2013. $39.577 million

For a long time we did not closely follow the development of the situation in the Chinese art market, not wanting to overload our readers with an excessive amount of information about “not our” art. With the exception of the dissident Ai Weiwei, who is not even as expensive as a resonant artist, Chinese authors seemed to us too numerous and far from us to delve into what was going on in their market there. But the statistics, as they say, are a serious lady, and if we are talking about the most successful living authors in the world, then we cannot do without a story about the outstanding representatives of the contemporary art of the Celestial Empire.

Let's start with a Chinese artist Cui Ruzhuo. The artist was born in 1944 in Beijing and lived in the USA from 1981 to 1996. After returning to China, he began teaching at the National Academy of Arts. Cui Ruzhuo reinterprets the traditional Chinese ink painting style and creates the huge scroll canvases that Chinese businessmen and officials love to present as gifts to each other. In the West, very little is known about him, although many must remember the story of the $3.7 million scroll that was mistakenly thrown away, mistaking it for trash, by the cleaners of a Hong Kong hotel. So, it was Cui Ruzhuo's scroll.

Cui Ruzhuo is in his 70s and the market for his work is thriving. Over 60 works by this artist have crossed the $1 million mark. However, his works have so far been successful only at Chinese auctions. Cui Ruzhuo's records are really impressive. First it "Landscape in the Snow" at Poly Auction in Hong Kong April 7, 2014 reached a hammer price of HK$184 million ( US$23.7 million).

Exactly one year later April 6, 2015 at a special Poly Auction in Hong Kong dedicated exclusively to the work of Cui Ruzhuo, a series "The Great Snowy Scenery of Mountainous Jiangnan"(Jiangnan is a historical region in China, occupying the right bank of the lower reaches of the Yangtze.) of eight ink-on-paper landscapes reached a hammer price of HK$236 million ( US$30.444 million).

A year later, history repeated itself again: at the solo auction of Cui Ruzhuo, held by Poly Auctions in Hong Kong April 4, 2016 polyptych in six parts "Great Snowcapped Mountains" 2013 hammer price (including auction house commission) reached HK$306 million (US$39.577 million). So far, this is an absolute record among Asian living artists.

According to art dealer Johnson Chan, who has been working with Chinese contemporary art for 30 years, there is an unconditional desire to raise prices for the works of this author, but all this is happening at a price level where experienced collectors are unlikely to want to buy something. “The Chinese want to raise the ratings of their artists by inflating prices for their work at major international auctions like the one organized by Poly in Hong Kong, but there is no doubt that these ratings are completely fabricated,” Johnson Chang comments on Cui Ruzhuo’s latest record.

This, of course, is only the opinion of one single dealer, and we have a real record recorded in all databases. So let's take him into account. Cui Ruzhuo himself, judging by his statements, is far from the modesty of Gerhard Richter when it comes to his auction success. It seems that this race for records is seriously captivating him. “I hope that in the next 5-10 years the prices for my works will surpass the prices for the works of Western masters like Picasso and Van Gogh. This is the Chinese dream,” says Cui Ruzhuo.

5 Jasper Johns Flag. 1983. $36 million

The third place in the ranking of living artists belongs to an American To Jasper Johns (1930). The current record price for Jones' work is $ 36 million. So much paid for his famous "Flag" at Christie's auction November 12, 2014.

A series of "flag" paintings, begun by Jones in the mid-1950s, immediately after the artist's return from the army, became one of the central ones in his work. Even in his youth, the artist was interested in the idea of ​​a readymade, the transformation of an everyday object into a work of art. However, Jones's flags were not real, they were painted in oil on canvas. Thus, a work of art acquired the properties of a thing from ordinary life, it was at the same time the image of the flag and the flag itself. A series of works with flags brought Jasper Johns worldwide fame. But no less popular are his abstract works. For many years, the list of the most expensive works, compiled according to the above rules, was headed by an abstract "False start". Until 2007, this very bright and decorative canvas, painted by Jones in 1959, was considered the owner of a practically inaccessible price for a living artist (albeit a lifetime classic) - $ 17 million. That's how much they paid for it in gold for the art market 1988.

Interestingly, the experience of Jasper Johns as a record holder was not continuous. In 1989, he was interrupted by the work of his colleague Willem de Kooning: the two-meter abstraction "Mixing" was sold at Sotheby's for $ 20.7 million. Jasper Johns had to move. But after 8 years, in 1997, de Kooning died, and " False start "Jones again took the first line of the auction rating of living artists for almost 10 years.

But in 2007 everything changed. The False Start record was first eclipsed by the work of the young and ambitious Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons. Then there was a record sale for $ 33.6 million of the painting "The Sleeping Benefit Inspector" by Lusien Freud (now deceased, and therefore not participating in this rating). Then the records of Gerhard Richter began. In general, so far with a current record of 36 million, Jasper Johns, one of the masters of American post-war art, working at the intersection of neo-Dadaism, abstract expressionism and pop art, is in an honorable third place.

6. ED RUSHAY Smash. 1963. $30.4 million

The sudden success of the painting "Smash" by an American artist Edward Ruscha (b. 1937) at auction Christie's November 12, 2014 brought this author to the number of the most expensive living artists. The previous record price for the work of Ed Ruscha (often the name Ruscha is pronounced in Russian as "Rusha", but the correct pronunciation is Ruscha) was "only" $ 6.98 million: that's how much they paid for his canvas "Burning gas station" in 2007. Seven years later his Smash with an estimate of $15–20 million, it reached the price of a hammer $30.4 million. It is obvious that the market for the works of this author has reached a new level - it is not for nothing that Barack Obama adorns the White House with his works, and Larry Gagosian himself exhibits him in his galleries.

Ed Ruscha never aspired to post-war New York with its craze for abstract expressionism. Instead, for over 40 years, he sought inspiration in California, where he moved from Nebraska at the age of 18. The artist stood at the origins of a new trend in art, called pop art. Together with Warhol, Lichtenstein, Wayne Thiebaud and other popular culture singers, Edward Ruscha took part in the Pasadena Museum's New Image of Ordinary Things exhibition in 1962, which became the first museum exhibition of American pop art. However, Ed Ruscha himself does not like it when his work is attributed to pop art, conceptualism, or some other trend in art.

His unique style is called "text painting". From the late 1950s, Ed Ruscha began painting words. Just as for Warhol a can of soup became a work of art, for Ed Ruscha, ordinary words and phrases, taken either from a billboard or packaging in a supermarket, or from the credits of a movie (Hollywood was always at Ruscha’s side, and unlike many of his fellow artists, Rushey respected the "dream factory"). The words on his canvases acquire the properties of three-dimensional objects, these are real still lifes made of words. When looking at his canvases, the first thing that comes to mind is the visual and sound perception of the drawn word, and only after that - the semantic meaning. The latter, as a rule, cannot be unambiguously deciphered; the words and phrases chosen by Ruscha can be interpreted in different ways. The same bright yellow word "Smash" on a deep blue background can be perceived as an aggressive call to smash something or someone to smithereens; as a lone adjective taken out of context (part of some newspaper headline, for example), or simply as a single word caught in an urban stream of visual images. Ed Ruscha revels in this uncertainty. “I have always had a deep respect for strange, inexplicable things… Explanations, in a sense, kill a thing,” he said in an interview.

7. CHRISTOPHER WOOL Untitled (RIOT). 1990. $29.93 million

American artist Christopher Wool(1955) first broke into the ranking of living artists in 2013 - after the sale of Apocalypse Now for $26.5 million. This record immediately put him on a par with Jasper Johns and Gerhard Richter. The amount of this historic transaction - more than $ 20 million - surprised many, since before it the prices for the artist's works did not exceed $ 8 million. However, the rapid growth of the market for Christopher Wool's works was already evident by that time: the artist's track record included 48 auction transactions worth more than $ 1 million, and 22 of them (almost half) took place in 2013. Two years later, the number of works by Chris Wool, sold more than $ 1 million, reached 70, and a new personal record was not long in coming. At auction Sotheby's May 12, 2015 work "Untitled (RIOT)" was sold for $ 29.93 million including Buyer's Premium.

Christopher Wool is best known for his large-scale black lettering on white aluminum sheets. It is they who, as a rule, set records at auctions. These are all things from the late 1980s and early 1990s. As the legend goes, one evening Wool was walking around New York in the evening and suddenly saw graffiti in black letters on a new white truck - the words sex and luv. This sight impressed him so much that he immediately returned to the studio and wrote his own version with the same words. The year was 1987, and the artist's further search for words and phrases for his "literal" works reflect the contradictory spirit of this time. This is the call "sell the house, sell the car, sell the children", taken by Wool from the film "Apocalypse Now", and the word "FOOL" ("fool") in capital letters, and the word "RIOT" ("rebellion"), often found in newspaper headlines of the time.

Words and phrases Wool applied to aluminum sheets using stencils with alkyd or enamel paints, deliberately leaving streaks, stencil marks and other evidence of the creative process. The artist divided the words so that the viewer did not immediately understand the meaning. At first, you see only a cluster of letters, that is, you perceive the word as a visual object, and only then do you read and decipher the meaning of the phrase or word. Wool used a font that was in use by the US military after World War II, which enhances the impression of an order, a directive, a slogan. These "letter" works are perceived as part of the urban landscape, as illegal graffiti that has violated the cleanliness of the surface of some street object. This series of works by Christopher Wool is recognized as one of the peaks of linguistic abstraction, and therefore is highly valued by lovers of contemporary art.

8. PETER DOYG Rosedale. 1991. $28.81 million

British Peter Doig(1959), although he belongs to the generation of postmodernists Koons and Hirst, chose for himself a completely traditional genre of landscape, which for a long time was not in favor with advanced artists. With his work, Peter Doig revives the public's fading interest in figurative painting. His work is highly appreciated by both critics and non-specialists, and evidence of this is the rapid rise in prices for his works. If in the early 1990s his landscapes cost several thousand dollars, now the bill goes into the millions.

Doig's work is often referred to as magical realism. Based on real landscapes, he creates fantasy, mysterious and often gloomy images. The artist likes to depict objects abandoned by people: a dilapidated building built by Le Corbusier in the middle of a forest or an empty white canoe on the surface of a forest lake. In addition to nature and imagination, Doig is inspired by horror films, old postcards, photographs, amateur videos, and so on. Doig's paintings are colourful, intricate, decorative and not provocative. It's nice to own such a painting. The low productivity of the author also fuels the interest of collectors: the artist living in Trinidad creates no more than a dozen paintings a year.

In the early 2000s, individual landscapes by the artist were sold for several hundred thousand dollars. At the same time, Doig's work was included in the Saatchi Gallery, at the Biennale at the Whitney Museum and in the MoMA collection. In 2006, the auction bar of $1 million was overcome. And the following year, an unexpected breakthrough occurred: the work "White Canoe", offered at Sotheby's on February 7, 2007 with an estimate of $0.8–1.2 million, exceeded the preliminary estimate five times and was sold for £5.7 million ($11.3 million). At that time, it was a record price for the work of a living European artist.

In 2008, Doig held solo exhibitions at the Tate Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. Multi-million dollar price tags for Doig's work have become the norm. Peter Doig's personal record has recently been updated several times a year - we only have time to change the picture and place of this artist in our ranking of living authors.

Peter Doig's most expensive work to date is the 1991 Rosedale snowscape. Interestingly, the record was set not at Sotheby's or Christie's, but at the Phillips contemporary art auction. This happened on May 18, 2017. A view of snow-covered Rosedale, one of Toronto's neighborhoods, was sold to a phone buyer for $28.81 million, up about $3 million from the previous record ($25.9 million for "Swallowed in the Mire"). The painting "Rosedale" took part in Doig's key exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery in London in 1998, and in general this work was fresh for the market, and therefore the record price is well deserved.

9. FRANK STELLA Cape pines. 1959. $28 million

Frank Stella is a bright representative of post-painting abstraction and minimalism in art. At a certain stage, it is referred to as a hard edge painting style. At first, Stella contrasted the strict geometricity, ascetic monochrome and structuredness of his paintings with the spontaneity and randomness of the canvases of abstract expressionists like Jackson Pollock.

In the late 1950s, the artist was spotted by the famous gallery owner Leo Castelli and was awarded an exhibition for the first time. On it, he presented the so-called "Black Paintings" - canvases painted over with parallel black lines with thin gaps of unpainted canvas between them. Lines form into geometric shapes, somewhat reminiscent of optical illusions, the very pictures that flicker, move, twist, create a feeling of deep space if you look at them for a long time. Stella continued the theme of parallel lines with thin dividing strips in his works on aluminum and copper. The colors, the pictorial basis and even the shape of the paintings changed (among others, works in the shape of the letters U, T, L stand out). But the main principle of his painting still consisted in the clarity of the contour, monumentality, simple form, monochrome. In the following decades, Stella moved away from such geometric painting towards smooth, natural forms and lines, and from monochromatic paintings to bright and varied color transitions. In the 1970s, Stella was captivated by the huge patterns used to paint ships. The artist used them for huge paintings with assemblage elements - he included pieces of steel pipes or wire mesh in his works.

In his early interviews, Frank Stella talks frankly about the meanings put into his work, or rather, about their absence: "What you see is what you see." The painting is an object in itself, not a reproduction of anything. "It's a flat surface with paint on it and nothing else," said Stella.

Well, signed by Frank Stella, this "surface with paint on it" could be worth millions of dollars today. For the first time in the ranking of living artists, Frank Stella got in 2015 with the sale of the Delaware Crossing (1961) for $ 13.69 million, including commission.

Four years later, on May 15, 2019, a new record was set by the early (1959) work “Cape of Pines”: the price of the hammer was over $28 million, including commission. This is one of 29 "black paintings" - the very ones with which Stella made his debut at his first exhibition in New York. Princeton University graduate Frank Stella was then 23 years old. He often did not have enough money for oil paint for artists. The young artist was moonlighting as a repair work, he really liked the pure colors of paint, and then the idea arose to work with this paint on canvas. With black enamel paint, Stella paints parallel stripes, leaving thin lines of unprimed canvas between them. Moreover, he writes without rulers, by eye, without a preliminary sketch. Stella never knew exactly how many black lines would appear in a particular painting. For example, in the painting “Cape of Pines”, there are 35 of them. The title of the work refers to the name of the cape in Massachusetts Bay - Point of pines. At the beginning of the 20th century, it had a large amusement park, and today it is one of the districts of the city of Revere.

10. YOSHITOMO NARA Knife behind the back. 2000. $24.95 million

Yoshitomo Nara (1959) is one of the key figures of Japanese neo-pop art. Japanese - because, despite global fame and many years of work abroad, his work is still distinguished by a pronounced national identity. Nara's favorite characters are girls and dogs in the style of Japanese manga and anime comics. The images he invented for many years have “gone to the people”: they are printed on T-shirts, souvenirs and various “merch” are made with them. Born in a poor family, far from the capital, he is not only loved for his talent, but also appreciated as a person who has made himself. The artist works quickly and expressively. It is known that some of his masterpieces were completed literally overnight. Paintings and sculptures by Yoshitomo Nara, as a rule, are very concise, and even sparing in expressive means, but always carry a strong emotional charge. Teenage girls at Nara often look at the viewer with an unkind squint. In their eyes - impudence, challenge and aggression. In the hands - then a knife, then a cigarette. There is an opinion that the depicted perversions of behavior are a reaction to the oppressive public morality, various taboos, and the principles of education adopted by the Japanese. Almost medieval severity and shame drive problems inside, create the ground for a delayed emotional explosion. "Knife behind the back" just capaciously reflects one of the main ideas of the artist. In this work there is a hating look of a girl, and a hand threateningly wound behind her back. Until 2019, Yoshitomo Nara's paintings and sculptures have already crossed the million, or even several million mark more than once. But twenty million - for the first time. Nara is one of the world's most famous Japanese-born artists. And now the most expensive of the living. On October 6, 2109, at Sotheby's in Hong Kong, he took this title from Takashi Murakami and noticeably outperformed the 90-year-old avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama (the maximum auction prices for her paintings are already approaching $ 9 million).

11. ZENG FANZHI The Last Supper. 2001. $23.3 million

At Sotheby's Hong Kong October 5, 2013 year scale canvas "The Last Supper" Beijing artist Zeng Fanzhi (1964) was sold for a record amount of 160 million Hong Kong dollars - $23.3 million USA. The final cost of Fanzhi's work, written, of course, under the influence of Leonardo da Vinci, turned out to be twice the preliminary estimate of about $10 million. Zeng Fanzhi's previous price record was $ 9.6 million paid at the Christie's Hong Kong auction in May 2008 for the work Mask Series. 1996 No. 6".

"The Last Supper" is the largest (2.2 × 4 meters) painting by Fanzhi in the "Masks" series, covering the period from 1994 to 2001. The cycle is dedicated to the evolution of Chinese society under the influence of economic reforms. The introduction of elements of a market economy by the PRC government led to urbanization and disunity of the Chinese. Fanzhi depicts the inhabitants of modern Chinese cities, who have to fight for a place in the sun. The well-known composition of the fresco by Leonardo in the reading of Fanzhi takes on a completely different meaning: the scene is transferred from Jerusalem to the classroom of a Chinese school with typical hieroglyphic boards on the walls. "Christ" and "apostles" have turned into pioneers with scarlet ties, and only "Judas" wears a gold tie - this is a metaphor for Western capitalism, penetrating and destroying the usual way of life in a socialist country.

The works of Zeng Fanzhi are stylistically close to European expressionism and are just as dramatic. But at the same time they are full of Chinese symbols and specifics. This versatility attracts both Chinese and Western collectors to the artist's work. A direct confirmation of this is the provenance of The Last Supper: the work was put up for auction by the famous collector of the Chinese avant-garde of the 1980s and early 1990s, the Belgian baron Guy Ullens.

12. ROBERT RAYMAN Bridge. 1980. $20.6 million

At auction Christie's May 13, 2015 abstract work "Bridge" 85 year old American artist Robert Ryman(Robert Ryman) was sold for $20.6 million taking into account the commission - twice as expensive as the lower estimate.

Robert Ryman(1930) did not immediately realize that he wanted to become an artist. At the age of 23, he moved to New York from Nashville, Tennessee, wanting to become a jazz saxophonist. In the meantime, he did not become a famous musician, he had to earn extra money as a security guard at MoMA, where he met Saul LeWitt and Dan Flavin. The first worked in the museum as a night secretary, and the second as a security guard and an elevator operator. Inspired by the works of abstract expressionists he saw at MoMA - Rothko, De Kooning, Pollock and Newman - Robert Ryman took up painting in 1955.

Ryman is often referred to as a minimalist, but he prefers to be called a "realist" because he is not interested in creating illusions, he only demonstrates the qualities of the materials he uses. Most of his works are painted with paints of all possible shades of white (from grayish or yellowish to dazzling white) based on a laconic square shape. During his career, Robert Ryman tried many materials and techniques: he painted in oils, acrylics, casein, enamel, pastels, gouache, etc. on canvas, steel, plexiglass, aluminum, paper, corrugated cardboard, vinyl, wallpaper, etc. His friend, a professional restorer, Orrin Riley, advised him on the causticity of the materials he thought of using. As an artist once said, “I never have a question What write, the main thing - How write". It's all about the texture, the nature of the strokes, the border between the colorful surface and the edges of the base, as well as the relationship between the work and the wall. Since 1975, a special feature of his work has been the fixtures, which Ryman designs himself and deliberately leaves them visible, emphasizing his work "as real as the walls on which they hang are real." Ryman prefers to give works "names" rather than "titles". The "name" is what helps to distinguish one work from another, and Ryman often names his works by paint brands, companies, etc., and the "title" claims some kind of allusions and deeply hidden meanings, the presence of which in his works the artist regularly denies. Nothing but material and technique matters.

13. Damien Hirst Sleepy spring. 2002. $19.2 million

English artist To Damien Hirst (1965) was destined to be the first to take the first place in this rating in a dispute with the living classic Jasper Johns. The already mentioned work "False Start" could remain an unsinkable leader for a long time if June 21, 2007 installation at that time 42-year-old Hirst "Sleepy Spring"(2002) was not sold at Sotheby's for £ 9.76 million, that is, for $19.2 million. The work, by the way, has a rather unusual format. On the one hand, this is a display cabinet with dummies of pills (6,136 pills), in fact, a classic installation. And on the other hand, this showcase is made flat (10 cm deep), taken into a frame and hung on the wall like a plasma panel, thus fully providing the comfort of possession inherent in paintings. In 2002, the installation's sister, Sleepy Winter, sold for $7.4 million, more than half the price. Someone "explained" the difference in price by the fact that the tablets are more faded in winter. But it is clear that this explanation is absolutely groundless, because the pricing mechanism for such things is no longer associated with their decorative effect.

In 2007, many recognized Hirst as the author of the most expensive work among living artists. The question, however, is from the category of "depending on how to count." The fact is that Hurst was sold for expensive pounds, and Jones for dollars that have now fallen in price, and even twenty years ago. But even if we count at face value, without taking into account 20-year inflation, then Hirst's work was more expensive in dollars, and Jones's in pounds. The situation was borderline, and everyone was free to decide who to consider the most expensive. But Hurst held out in first place not so long. In the same 2007, he was displaced from the first place by Koons with his "Hanging Heart".

Just on the eve of the global decline in prices for contemporary art, Hirst undertook an unprecedented undertaking for a young artist - a solo auction of his works, which took place on September 15, 2008 in London. The news of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers announced the day before did not spoil the appetite of contemporary art lovers: of the 223 works offered by Sotheby’s, only five did not find new owners (one of the buyers, by the way, was Viktor Pinchuk). Work "Golden Taurus"- a huge effigy of a bull in formaldehyde, crowned with a golden disc, - brought £10.3m ($18.6m). This is Hurst's best result if measured in pounds (in the currency in which the deal was made). However, we are ranking in terms of dollars, so (may the Golden Calf forgive us) we will consider Hirst's best sale to be Sleepy Spring.

Since 2008, Hirst has not had sales of Sleepy Spring and Golden Calf. Fresh records of the 2010s - for the work of Richter, Jones, Fanzhi, Wool and Koons - moved Damien to the sixth line of our rating. But let's not make a categorical judgment about the decline of the Hirst era. According to analysts, Hurst as a "superstar" has already gone down in history, which means that they will buy it for a very long time; however, the greatest value in the future is predicted for works created in the most innovative period of his career, that is, in the 1990s.

14. Maurizio Cattelan Him. 2001. $17.19 million

Italian Maurizio Cattelan (1960) came to art after working as a security guard, cook, gardener and furniture designer. The self-taught author has become world famous for his ironic sculptures and installations. He's dropped a meteorite on the Pope, turned a customer's wife into a hunting trophy, ripped a hole in the floor of an Old Masters Museum, held up a giant middle finger to the stock exchange in Milan, brought a live donkey to the Frieze fair. In the near future, Cattelan promises to install a golden toilet at the Guggenheim Museum. In the end, Maurizio Cattelan's antics were widely recognized in the art world: he is invited to the Venice Biennale (the installation "Others" in 2011 - a flock of two thousand pigeons that look menacingly from all pipes and beams at the crowds of visitors passing below), arrange he has a retrospective at the New York Guggenheim Museum (November 2011) and, finally, big money is paid for his sculptures.

Since 2010, Maurizio Cattelan's most expensive work has been a wax sculpture of a man peering out of a hole in the floor, outwardly similar to the artist himself ("Untitled", 2001). This sculpture-installation, which exists in the amount of three copies plus the author's copy, was first shown at the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam. Then this mischievous character looked out of a hole in the floor of the hall with paintings by Dutch painters of the 18th and 19th centuries. Maurizio Cattellan in this work associates himself with a daring criminal invading the sacred space of the museum hall with paintings by great masters. Thus, he wants to deprive art of the halo of holiness that museum walls give it. The work, for the sake of exhibiting which every time you have to make holes in the floor, was sold for $ 7.922 million at Sotheby's.

The record stood until May 8, 2016, when Cattelan's even more provocative work Him, depicting a kneeling Hitler, went under the hammer for $17.189 million. The thing is strange. The name is strange. Character selection is risky. Like everything else with Cattelan. What does Him mean? "His" or "His infernal majesty"? It is clear that we are definitely not talking about chanting the image of the Fuhrer. In this work, Hitler appears rather in a helpless, pitiful form. And absurdly - the incarnation of Satan is made the size of a child, dressed in a schoolboy costume and kneeling with a humble expression on his face. For Cattelan, this image is an invitation to reflect on the nature of absolute evil and a way to get rid of fears. By the way, the “Him” sculpture is well known to the Western audience. Her brothers in the series have been exhibited more than 10 times in leading museums around the world, including the Pompidou Center and the Solomon Guggenheim Museum.

15. MARC GROTJAN Untitled (S III Released to France Face 43.14). 2011. $16.8 million

On May 17, 2017, one of the most powerful paintings by Marc Grotjan ever put up for auction appeared at Christie's New York evening auction. The painting “Untitled (S III Released to France Face 43.14)” was exhibited by the Parisian collector Patrick Seguin with an estimate of $13-16 million, and since the sale of the lot was guaranteed by a third party, no one was particularly surprised by the establishment of a new personal auction record by the 49-year-old artist . The hammer's price of $14.75 million ($16.8 million with Buyer's Premium) surpassed Grotjan's previous auction record by more than $10 million, putting him in the club of living artists whose work sells for eight figures. Seven-digit same results (sales more than $1 million, but not more than $10 million) in the auction piggy bank Mark Grotyan for about thirty.

Mark Grotjan (1968), in whose work experts see the influence of modernism, abstract minimalism, pop and op art, came to his corporate identity in the mid-1990s, after moving with his friend Brent Peterson to Los Angeles and opening a gallery there "Room 702". As the artist himself recalls, at that time he began to think about what came first for him in art. He was looking for the motive with which he could experiment. And I realized that he was always interested in line and color. Experiments in the spirit of rayonism and minimalism with linear perspective, numerous vanishing points and multi-colored abstract triangular shapes eventually brought Grotjan worldwide fame.

From abstract, colorful landscapes with multiple horizons and vanishing points, he ended up with triangular shapes reminiscent of butterfly wings. Paintings by Grotjan 2001–2007 They call it "Butterflies". Today, moving the vanishing point or using several vanishing points at once, spaced apart in space, is considered one of the artist's most powerful techniques.

The next large series of works was called "Faces"; in the abstract lines of this series one can guess the features of a human face, simplified to the state of a mask in the spirit of Matisse, Jawlensky or Brancusi. Speaking about the ultimate simplification and stylization of forms, about the compositional solution of paintings, when the scattered contours of the eyes and mouths seem to be looking at us from the thicket, the researchers note the connection of Grotjan's Faces with the art of the primitive tribes of Africa and Oceania, while the artist himself simply "likes the image eyes looking out from the jungle. I sometimes imagined the faces of baboons or monkeys. I cannot say that I was consciously or subconsciously influenced by primitive African art, rather, I was influenced by artists who were influenced by it. Picasso is the most obvious example."

The works of the "Faces" series are called brutal and elegant, pleasing to the eye and pleasing to the mind. Over time, the texture of these works also changes: to create the effect of an interior space, the artist uses wide strokes of thick paint, even Pollock-style spatter, but the surface of the painting is leveled so that, upon closer examination, it seems completely flat. The auction-record-setting painting Untitled (S III Released to France Face 43.14) belongs to this celebrated series by Mark Grotjan.

16. TAKASHI MURAKAMI My lonely cowboy. $15.16 million

Japanese Takashi Murakami (1962) entered our rating with sculpture "My Lonely Cowboy", sold at Sotheby's in May 2008 for $ 15.16 million. With this sale, Takashi Murakami was long considered the most successful living Asian artist - until he was eclipsed by the sale of The Last Supper by Zeng Fanzhi.

Takashi Murakami works as an artist, sculptor, fashion designer and animator. Murakami wanted to take something really Japanese as the basis of his work, without Western or any other borrowings. In his student years, he was fascinated by the traditional Japanese art of nihonga, later it was replaced by the popular art of anime and manga. Thus was born the psychedelic Mr DOB, patterns of smiling flowers and bright, shiny fiberglass sculptures, as if they had just stepped out of the pages of Japanese comics. Some consider Murakami's art to be fast food and the embodiment of vulgarity, others call the artist the Japanese Andy Warhol - and in the ranks of the latter, as we see, there are many very rich people.

Murakami borrowed the name for his sculpture from Andy Warhol's The Lonely Cowboys (1968), which the Japanese, as he himself admitted, had never watched, but he really liked the combination of words. Murakami with one sculpture pleased fans of erotic Japanese comics and laughed at them. Increased in size, and besides, also three-dimensional, the anime hero turns into a fetish of mass culture. This artistic statement is quite in the spirit of classic Western pop art (remember Allen Jones' furniture set or Koons' Pink Panther), but with a national twist.

17. KAWS. Album KAWS. 2005. $14,784,505

KAWS is the pseudonym of American artist Brian Donelly from New Jersey. He is the youngest participant in our rating, born in 1974. Donelly started as an animator at Disney (drawing backgrounds for the cartoon "101 Dalmatians" and others). I have been interested in graffiti since I was young. At first, his signature design was a skull with "X"s in place of the eye sockets. The young writer's work has been loved by show business people and people from the fashion industry: he made the cover for the Kanye West album, released collaborations for Nike, Comme des Garçons and Uniqlo. Over time, KAWS has become a well-known figure in the contemporary art world. His signature Mickey Mouse figurine has found its way into museums, public spaces and private collections. Once KAWS released a limited edition vinyl toy with the My Plastic Heart brand, and they suddenly became the subject of high collector's interest. One of the passionate collectors of these "toys" is the founder of Black Star, rapper Timati: he almost completely collected the entire series of "Cavs Companions".

KAWS' work set a record for an artist's oeuvre - $14.7 million - at Sotheby's Hong Kong auction on April 1, 2019. It used to be in the collection of Japanese fashion designer Nigo. Meter canvas The KAWS Album is a homage to the cover of the famous The Beatles album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in 1967. Only instead of people, it has Kimpsons - stylized characters from the Simpsons cartoon series with "X"s instead of eyes.

18. JIN SHAN Tajik bride. 1983. $13.89 million

Among the relatively young and contemporary Chinese artists, who all belong to the so-called “new wave” of the late 1980s in Chinese art, our rating quite unexpectedly included a representative of a completely different generation and a different school. Jin Shan (Jin Shangyi), who is now over 80, belongs to the bright representatives of the first generation of artists in communist China. The views of this group of artists were formed to a large extent under the influence of the closest communist ally - the USSR.

Official Soviet art, socialist realism, oil painting, which was still unusual for China (as opposed to traditional Chinese ink painting) in the 1950s, were at the peak of popularity, and the Soviet artist Konstantin came to Beijing Art University for three years (from 1954 to 1957) to teach Methodievich Maksimov. Jin Shani, who at that time was the youngest in the group, got into his class. The artist always remembered his teacher with great warmth, saying that it was Maksimov who taught him to correctly understand and depict the model. K. M. Maksimov brought up a whole galaxy of Chinese realists, now classics.

In the work of Jin Shan one can feel the influence of both the Soviet "severe style" and the European school of painting. The artist devoted a lot of time to studying the heritage of the Renaissance and classicism, while he considered it necessary to preserve the Chinese spirit in his works. The painting "Tajik Bride", painted in 1983, is considered a universally recognized masterpiece, a new milestone in the work of Jin Shan. It was she who was put up at the China Guardian auction in November 2013 and sold several times more expensive than the estimate - for $ 13.89 million, including commission.

19. BANKSY The Decayed Parliament. 2008. $12.14 million

Wall paintings bearing the Banksy tag began to appear on the walls of cities (first in the UK and then around the world) in the late 1990s. His philosophical and at the same time sharp graffiti were devoted to the problems of the state's attack on the freedoms of citizens, crimes against the environment, irresponsible consumption, and the inhumanity of the illegal migration system. Over time, Banksy's wall "reproaches" gained unprecedented media popularity. In fact, he became one of the main spokesmen for public opinion condemning the hypocrisy of states and corporations, producing growing injustice in the capitalist system.

The significance of Banksy, the sense of the "nerve of time" and the accuracy of his metaphors were appreciated not only by the audience, but also by collectors. In the 2010s, hundreds of thousands or even more than a million dollars were given for his works. It got to the point that Banksy graffiti was broken down and stolen along with pieces of walls.

In an era of advanced digital surveillance, Banksy still manages to remain anonymous. There is a version that this is no longer one person, but a group of several artists, headed by a talented woman. That would explain a lot. And the outward dissimilarity of the writers caught in the lenses of the cameras of witnesses, and the impersonal stencil method of application (gives high speed and does not require the direct participation of the author), and the touching romanticism of the subjects of the paintings (balls, snowflakes, etc.). Be that as it may, the people from the Banksy project, including his assistants, know how to keep their mouths shut.

In 2019, the most expensive work of Banksy unexpectedly became a four-meter canvas Devolved Parliament (“degraded”, “decayed” or “delegated” parliament). Chimpanzees arguing in the House of Commons seem to be mocking the audience in the year of the scandalous Brexit. It is surprising that the painting was painted 10 years before this historical turning point, and therefore someone considers it prophetic. At a Sotheby's auction on October 3, 2019, an unknown buyer bought the oil for $12,143,000 in a fierce bidding - six times the price of the preliminary estimate.

20. JOHN CURREN "Sweet and simple." 1999. $12.007 million

American artist John Curran (1962) known for his satirical figurative paintings on provocative sexual and social themes. Curren's work manages to combine the painting techniques of the old masters (especially Lucas Cranach the Elder and the mannerists) and fashion photography from glossy magazines. Achieving more grotesque, Karren often distorts the proportions of the human body, enlarges or reduces its individual parts, depicts heroes in broken, mannered poses.

Curren began in 1989 with portraits of girls redrawn from a school album; continued in the early 1990s with pictures of busty beauties inspired by photos from Cosmopolitan and Playboy; in 1992, portraits of wealthy elderly ladies appeared; and in 1994, Curren married sculptor Rachel Feinstein, who became his main muse and model for many years. By the late 1990s, Currin's technical prowess, combined with the kitsch and grotesqueness of his paintings, brought him popularity. In 2003, Larry Gagosian took over the promotion of the artist, and if such a dealer as Gagosian takes on the author, then success is guaranteed. In 2004, a John Curran retrospective was held at the Whitney Museum.

Around this time, his work began to sell for six figures. The current record for a painting by John Curran belongs to Sweet and Simple, sold on November 15, 2016 at Christie's for $12 million. now over 50, this is definitely a career breakthrough. His previous record in 2008 was $ 5.5 million (paid, by the way, for the same work "Cute and Simple").

21. BRICE MARDEN The Attended. 1996–1999 $10.917 million

Another living American abstract artist in our ranking is Bryce Marden (1938). Marden's works in the style of minimalism, and since the late 1980s - gestural painting, are distinguished by a unique author's, slightly muted palette. Color combinations in Marden's works are inspired by his travels around the world - Greece, India, Thailand, Sri Lanka. Among the authors who influenced the formation of Marden are Jackson Pollock (in the early 1960s Marden worked as a security guard at the Jewish Museum, where he personally observed Pollock's “drippings”), Alberto Giacometti (got acquainted with his work in Paris) and Robert Rauschenberg (some while Marden worked as his assistant). The first stage of Marden's work is devoted to classic minimalist canvases, consisting of colored rectangular blocks (horizontal or vertical). Unlike many other minimalists, who sought the ideal quality of works, as if printed by a machine, and not drawn by a person, Marden retained traces of the artist's work, combining different materials (wax and oil paints). Since the mid-1980s, under the influence of oriental calligraphy, geometric abstraction has been replaced by meander-like lines, the background for which was the same monochrome color fields. One of these "meander" works - "The Attended" - was sold at Sotheby's in November 2013 for $ 10.917 million, including commission.

22. Pierre Soulages Peinture 186 x 143 cm, 23 December 1959. $10.6 million

23. ZHANG XIAOGANG Eternal love. $10.2 million

Another representative of Chinese contemporary art is a symbolist and surrealist Zhang Xiaogang (1958). At Sotheby's Hong Kong April 3, 2011, where the Chinese avant-garde from the collection of the Belgian baron Guy Ullens was sold, a triptych by Zhang Xiaogang "Eternal love" was sold for $ 10.2 million. At that time, it was a record not only for the artist, but for the entire Chinese contemporary art. It is said that Xiaogang's work was bought by the billionaire's wife Wang Wei, who is about to open her own museum.

Zhang Xiaogang, who is fond of mysticism and Eastern philosophy, wrote the story of "Eternal Love" in three parts - life, death and rebirth. This triptych was featured in the iconic 1989 China/Avant-Garde exhibition at the National Museum of Art. Also in 1989, student demonstrations were brutally suppressed in Tiananmen Square by the military. Following this tragic event, the screws began to tighten - the exhibition at the National Museum was dispersed, many artists emigrated. In response to socialist realism imposed from above, a direction of cynical realism arose, one of the main representatives of which was Zhang Xiaogang.

24. BRUCE NAUMAN Helpless Henry Moore. 1967. $9.9 million

American Bruce Nauman (1941), the winner of the main prize of the 48th Venice Biennale (1999), has long gone to his record. Nauman began his career in the sixties. Connoisseurs call him, along with Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys, one of the most influential figures in the art of the second half of the twentieth century. However, the rich intellectuality and absolute non-decorativeness of some of his works obviously prevented his rapid recognition and success with the general public. Nauman often experiments with language, discovering unexpected meanings of familiar phrases. Words become the central characters of many of his works, including neon pseudo-signs and panels. Nauman himself calls himself a sculptor, although over the past forty years he has tried himself in completely different genres - sculpture, photography, video art, performances, graphics. In the early 1990s, Larry Gagosian uttered the prophetic words: "The real value of Naumann's work has yet to be realized." And so it happened: May 17, 2001 at Christie's by Naumann in 1967 "Helpless Henry Moore (rear view)"(Henry Moore Bound to Fail (Backview)) set a new record in the post-war art segment. A cast of Naumann's hands tied behind his back, made of plaster and wax, went under the hammer for $ 9.9 million in the collection of the French magnate Francois Pinault (according to other sources, the American Phyllis Wattis). The estimate of the work was only $2-3 million, so the result was a real surprise for everyone.

Prior to this legendary sale, only two of Naumann's works had crossed the million-dollar mark. And in his entire auction career so far, only six works, in addition to "Henry Moore ...", have gone for seven figures, but their results still cannot be compared with nine million.

"Helpless Henry Moore" is one of Naumann's series of polemical works on the figure of Henry Moore (1898–1986), a British artist who was considered among the greatest sculptors of the 20th century in the sixties. Young authors, who found themselves in the shadow of a recognized master, then attacked him with fierce criticism. Naumann's work is a response to this criticism and at the same time a reflection on the topic of creativity. The title of the work becomes a pun, as it connects two meanings of the English word bound - bound (in the literal sense) and doomed to a certain fate.

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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 "Movement", 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: —

Sales vs Exhibitions

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.

Major international auctions are increasingly including contemporary Russian artists in their auctions of post-war and contemporary art. In February 2007, Sotheby's held the first and almost sensational specialized auction of Russian contemporary art, which brought 22 auction records. Artguide decided to find out which of our contemporary artists collected the largest sums at international auctions and, having compiled the top 10 most expensive living Russian artists based on the results of auction sales, discovered some curious patterns. All sales prices are given according to the auction houses, taking into account the buyer's premium.

Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky. Night fitness. Fragment. Courtesy authors (www.dubossarskyvinogradov.com)

Of course, there could be no doubt about who exactly became the leader of the auction race: the grandiose “Beetle” by Ilya Kabakov, sold in February 2008 at Phillips de Pury for almost £3 million, is probably remembered by everyone who is interested in contemporary art. A funny nursery rhyme, the text of which is written on a wooden panel with a beetle, even acquired a thoughtful intonation in the art history and market interpretation: “My beetle breaks out, jumps, chirps, it doesn’t want to get into my collection” - this metaphorically means the passion of a collector of contemporary art, for this same beetle trading. (The verse quoted by Kabakov, composed by the architect A. Maslennikova, an amateur poet from Voronezh, was published in the children's collection of poems, counting rhymes and riddles Between Summer and Winter, published in 1976 by the Children's Literature publishing house, and Kabakov illustrated this book True, that beetle was not in his black-and-white illustrations).

It should be added that if we did not make the top 10 most expensive living artists, but the top 10 of their most expensive works, then Kabakov's paintings would take the first three places on this list. That is, the three most expensive works of the now living Russian artist belong to him - in addition to the "Beetle", these are "Luxury Room" in 1981 (Phillips de Pury, London, June 21, 2007, £ 2.036 million) and "Vacation No. 10" in 1987 (Phillips de Pury London, 14 April 2011, £1.497m). On top of that, the generous Kabakov "gave" another record to the Vienna Dorotheum auction - a year ago, on November 24, 2011, the painting "At the University" went there for €754.8 thousand, becoming the most expensive work of contemporary art ever sold on this auction.

The silver medalist, probably, many will also easily name - this is Eric Bulatov, whose canvas "Glory to the CPSU" was sold for a record amount for the artist at the same Phillips de Pury auction as Kabakov's "Beetle".

But the third place of the non-conformist Yevgeny Chubarov, whose late work "Untitled" went in June 2007 to Phillips de Pury for £ 720 thousand, could be called a surprise, if not for the fact that a few months earlier, in February of that the same year, Chubarov had already made a splash at Sotheby's in London, at a specialized auction of Russian contemporary art, where his work with the same name (or rather, without it) was sold for £288,000 (with an upper limit of the estimate of £60,000), not only beating the alleged top lot of that auction, Bulatov's painting "Revolution - Perestroika" (sale price £ 198 thousand), but also becoming the most expensive work of the living Russian artist at that time. By the way, here it is, the irony of currency fluctuations: in November 2000, Grisha Bruskin's polyptych was sold in New York for $424 thousand, and then in pounds sterling it was £296.7 thousand, and in February 2007, when it was installed Chubarov's first record is already only £216.6 thousand.

The works of fourth-place winners Vitaly Komar and Alexander Melamid are frequent and quite successful lots in Western auctions, although their estimates rarely exceed £100,000. The duo's second most expensive work is Yalta Conference. The Judgment of Paris "- was sold at Macdougall's in 2007 for £ 184.4 thousand. But it should be noted, of course, that the painting that brought them fourth place belongs to rather early and rarely appearing works at auctions and that it was exhibited in 1976 at the first (and very loud) foreign exhibition of Komar and Melamid at the Ronald Feldman Gallery in New York.

Following Komar and Melamid, Oleg Vasiliev and Semyon Faibisovich consistently hold a high bar at auctions. Vasilyev was third in that extraordinarily successful 2008 Phillips de Pury auction, which brought records to Ilya Kabakov and Erik Bulatov, while Faibisovich was fourth. Then Vasiliev's painting "Variation on the theme of the cover of the Ogonyok magazine" in 1980 was sold for ₤356 thousand with an estimate of ₤120 thousand, and Faibisovich's "Another look at the Black Sea" in 1986 - for £300.5 thousand with Estimate £60,000-80,000. Works by both artists often fetch six-figure sums at auction.

True, it was not the record-breaking “Soldiers” that brought fame to Faibisovich at auction, but the painting “Beauty”, sold at Sotheby’s on March 12, 2008 - this was the auction house’s second auction of contemporary Russian art, except for the Moscow auction of 1988. The painting (its other name is “The First of May”) then went for £264 thousand with an estimate of £60-80 thousand, a real battle unfolded between buyers for it. Another painting by Faibisovich “On a Moscow street” at that auction exceeded the estimate twice and was sold for £126,000 2011-2012.

Roughly the same can be said about Oleg Tselkov, who is eighth in the top 10. Having found his style and theme half a century ago, a recognizable and authoritative artist, he regularly supplies auctions with his fluorescent round faces, which have continued success. The second most expensive painting by Tselkov "Five Faces" was sold in June 2007 at MacDougall's for £223.1 thousand, the third, "Two with Beetles", - in November of the same year at the same auction (MacDougall's always put up for auction several Tselkov different price range) for £202.4 thousand.

Grisha Bruskin has had a special role in the auction history of Russian contemporary art since 1988, from the Moscow auction of Sotheby's under the name Russian Avant-Garde and Soviet Contemporary Art, where his "Fundamental Lexicon" was sold for a sensational £ 220 thousand, 12 times higher estimate. Approximately the same, and perhaps even more sensational, happened with the polyptych “Logii. Part I" in 2000 at Christie's in New York: the polyptych sold for $424,000, exceeding the upper limit of the estimate by 21 (!) times - this alone can be considered a kind of record. Most likely, this extraordinary purchase is due not least to the significance of Bruskin's name as the hero of the legendary Sotheby's Moscow auction, because no other auction sales of Bruskin even come close to these amounts.

The price of Oscar Rabin does not fluctuate, but grows steadily and very noticeably, especially for the works of the Soviet period - all the most expensive works of this master sold at auction were painted in the late 1950s and early 1970s. These are (besides his record "Socialist City") "Baths (Smell the cologne "Moscow", 1966, Sotheby's, New York, April 17, 2007, $ 336 thousand) and "Violin in the cemetery" (1969, Macdougall's, London, November 27 2006, £168.46).

The top ten is closed by representatives of the younger generation - Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky, whose most expensive paintings were sold at Phillips de Pury (the second most expensive is The Last Butterfly, 1997, Phillips de Pury, New York, $181,000). These artists, in general, continue a trend that is quite clearly visible in the ranking of the most expensive paintings by living artists. We will talk about it a little lower, but for now, finally, here is a list of the most expensive works of living Russian artists.

Top 10 works of living Russian artists

1. Ilya Kabakov (b. 1933). Bug. 1982. Wood, enamel. 226.5 x 148.5. Auction Phillips de Pury & Company, London, February 28, 2008. Estimate £1.2-1.8 million. Sale price £2.93 million.

2. Erik Bulatov (b. 1933). Glory to the CPSU. 1975. Oil on canvas. 229.5 x 229. Auction Phillips de Pury & Company, London, February 28, 2008. Estimate £500-700 thousand. Sale price £1.084 million.

3. Evgeny Chubarov (b. 1934). Untitled. 1994. Oil on canvas. 300 x 200. Phillips de Pury & Company auction, London, June 22, 2007. Estimate £100-150 thousand. Sale price £720 thousand.

4. Vitaly Komar (b. 1943) and Alexander Melamid (b. 1945). Solzhenitsyn and Bell meeting at Rostropovich's dacha. 1972. Canvas, oil, collage, gold foil. 175 x 120. Phillips de Pury & Company auction, London, April 23, 2010. Estimate £100-150 thousand. Sale price £657.25 thousand.

5. Oleg Vasilyev (b. 1931). Before sunset. 1990. Oil on canvas. 210 x 165. Sotheby's auction, London, March 12, 2008. Estimate £200-300 thousand. Sale price £468.5 thousand.

6. Semyon Faibisovich (b. 1949). Soldiers. From the series "Stations". 1989. Oil on canvas. 285.4 x 190.5. Auction Phillips de Pury & Company, London, October 13, 2007. Estimate £40-60 thousand. Sale price £311.2 thousand.

8. Oleg Tselkov (b. 1934) Boy with balloons. Canvas, oil. 103.5 x 68.5. Auction MacDougall's, London, November 28, 2008. Estimate £200-300 thousand. Sale price £238.4 thousand.

9. Oscar Rabin (b. 1928) City and moon (Socialist city). 1959. Oil on canvas. 90 x 109. Sotheby's auction, New York, April 15, 2008. Estimate $120-160 thousand. Sale price $337 thousand (£171.4 at the dollar to pound rate in April 2008).

10. Alexander Vinogradov (b. 1963) and Vladimir Dubossarsky (b. 1964). Night workout. 2004. Oil on canvas. 194.9 x 294.3. Auction Phillips de Pury & Company, London, June 22, 2007. Estimate £15-20 thousand. Sale price £132 thousand.

It is known that auction prices are an irrational thing and one cannot judge the true role and significance of the artist in the artistic process by them. But on the basis of them and the top lots, one can roughly judge the collector's preferences. What are they? You don't have to be an expert to answer this question. They are obvious. Firstly, all artists (except perhaps Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky) are “living classics” in years, and very solid ones at that. Secondly, almost all of them set records not by works of recent years, but by much earlier ones, that is, the pattern “the older, the better” is also relevant here. Thirdly, without exception, all works from the top 10 are easel paintings. Fourthly, these are all large and very large paintings. More or less "standard" in this respect can only be considered "The City and the Moon" by Oscar Rabin and "Boy with Balloons" by Oleg Tselkov, all the rest are great in height (not even in width) human growth. Finally, for all these artists, the theme of the Soviet (in particular, nonconformist) past is relevant in one way or another, which in many cases is accentuated in their works. It seems that our collectors are experiencing acute nostalgia for this very Soviet past (it is common knowledge that it is Russian collectors who buy Russian art in the West).

Younger than the rest of the auction sales leaders, Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky are somewhat stubbornly trying to break out of the dozens of harsh nonconformists, but this is only at first glance. In fact, if you imagine which of the next generation after Kabakov, Bulatov, Rabin, Vasiliev, Tselkovy can best meet the above criteria of purchase (large-sized easel paintings, rehashings of Soviet genres, motifs and stylistics), then it will probably turn out to be Vinogradov and Dubossarsky, worthy heirs of the masters of previous decades. At least judging by the auction sales.

If you think that all great artists are in the past, then you have no idea how wrong you are. In this article, you will learn about the most famous and talented artists of our time. And, believe me, their works will sit in your memory no less deeply than the works of the maestro from past eras.

Wojciech Babski

Wojciech Babski is a contemporary Polish artist. He graduated from the Silesian Polytechnic Institute, but connected himself with. Lately he has been painting mostly women. Focuses on the manifestation of emotions, seeks to obtain the greatest possible effect by simple means.

Loves color, but often uses shades of black and gray to achieve the best impression. Not afraid to experiment with new techniques. Recently, he has been gaining more and more popularity abroad, mainly in the UK, where he successfully sells his works, which can already be found in many private collections. In addition to art, he is interested in cosmology and philosophy. Listens to jazz. Currently lives and works in Katowice.

Warren Chang

Warren Chang is a contemporary American artist. Born in 1957 and raised in Monterey, California, he graduated magna cum laude from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1981 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Fine Arts. For the next two decades, he worked as an illustrator for various companies in California and New York before starting his career as a professional artist in 2009.

His realistic paintings can be divided into two main categories: biographical interior paintings and paintings depicting working people. His interest in this style of painting is rooted in the work of the 16th-century painter Jan Vermeer, and extends to objects, self-portraits, portraits of family members, friends, students, studio, classroom and home interiors. His goal is to create mood and emotion in his realistic paintings through the manipulation of light and the use of muted colors.

Chang became famous after the transition to traditional visual arts. Over the past 12 years, he has earned numerous awards and honors, the most prestigious being the Master Signature from the Oil Painters Association of America, the largest oil painting community in the United States. Only one person out of 50 is honored with the opportunity to receive this award. Currently, Warren lives in Monterey and works in his studio, he also teaches (known as a talented teacher) at the San Francisco Academy of the Arts.

Aurelio Bruni

Aurelio Bruni is an Italian artist. Born in Blair, October 15, 1955. Graduated with a degree in scenography from the Art Institute in Spoleto. As an artist, he is self-taught, as he independently “built the house of knowledge” on the foundation laid back in school. He began painting in oils at the age of 19. Currently lives and works in Umbria.

Bruni's early painting is rooted in surrealism, but over time he begins to focus on the closeness of lyrical romanticism and symbolism, reinforcing this combination with the exquisite sophistication and purity of his characters. Animate and inanimate objects acquire equal dignity and look almost hyper-realistic, but at the same time, they do not hide behind a curtain, but allow you to see the essence of your soul. Versatility and sophistication, sensuality and loneliness, thoughtfulness and fruitfulness are the spirit of Aurelio Bruni, nourished by the splendor of art and the harmony of music.

Aleksander Balos

Alkasandr Balos is a contemporary Polish artist specializing in oil painting. Born in 1970 in Gliwice, Poland, but since 1989 he has been living and working in the USA, in the city of Shasta, California.

As a child, he studied art under the guidance of his father Jan, a self-taught artist and sculptor, so from an early age, artistic activity received full support from both parents. In 1989, at the age of eighteen, Balos left Poland for the United States, where his schoolteacher and part-time artist Cathy Gaggliardi encouraged Alcasander to enroll in art school. Balos then received a full scholarship to the University of Milwaukee Wisconsin, where he studied painting with philosophy professor Harry Rosin.

After completing his studies in 1995 with a bachelor's degree, Balos moved to Chicago to study at the School of Fine Arts, whose methods are based on the work of Jacques-Louis David. Figurative realism and portraiture made up the bulk of Balos' work in the 90s and early 2000s. Today, Balos uses the human figure to highlight the features and shortcomings of human existence, without offering any solutions.

The plot compositions of his paintings are intended to be independently interpreted by the viewer, only then the canvases will acquire their true temporal and subjective meaning. In 2005, the artist moved to Northern California, since then the scope of his work has expanded significantly and now includes freer methods of painting, including abstraction and various multimedia styles that help express the ideas and ideals of being through painting.

Alyssa Monks

Alyssa Monks is a contemporary American artist. She was born in 1977 in Ridgewood, New Jersey. She became interested in painting when she was still a child. She attended The New School in New York and Montclair State University, and graduated from Boston College in 1999 with a bachelor's degree. At the same time, she studied painting at the Lorenzo Medici Academy in Florence.

Then she continued her studies under the program for a master's degree at the New York Academy of Art, in the Department of Figurative Art, graduating in 2001. She graduated from Fullerton College in 2006. She briefly lectured at universities and educational institutions around the country, and taught painting at the New York Academy of Art, as well as Montclair State University and Lyme Academy College of Art.

“Using filters such as glass, vinyl, water and steam, I distort the human body. These filters allow you to create large areas of abstract design, with islands of color peeking through them - parts of the human body.

My paintings change the modern look at the already established, traditional poses and gestures of bathing women. They could tell an attentive viewer a lot about such seemingly self-evident things as the benefits of swimming, dancing, and so on. My characters are pressed against the glass of the shower cabin window, distorting their own body, realizing that they thereby influence the notorious male look at a naked woman. Thick layers of paint are mixed together to mimic glass, steam, water and flesh from afar. Up close, however, the amazing physical properties of oil paint become apparent. By experimenting with layers of paint and color, I find the moment when abstract strokes become something else.

When I first started painting the human body, I was immediately fascinated and even obsessed with it and felt that I had to make my paintings as realistic as possible. I "professed" realism until it began to unravel and deconstruct itself. Now I am exploring the possibilities and potential of a style of painting where representational painting and abstraction meet – if both styles can coexist at the same moment in time, I will do it.”

Antonio Finelli

Italian artist - time watcher” – Antonio Finelli was born on February 23, 1985. Currently lives and works in Italy between Rome and Campobasso. His works have been exhibited in several galleries in Italy and abroad: Rome, Florence, Novara, Genoa, Palermo, Istanbul, Ankara, New York, and they can also be found in private and public collections.

Pencil drawings " Watcher of time” Antonio Finelli send us on an eternal journey through the inner world of human temporality and the rigorous analysis of this world associated with it, the main element of which is the passage through time and the traces it inflicts on the skin.

Finelli paints portraits of people of any age, gender and nationality, whose facial expressions indicate the passage through time, and the artist also hopes to find evidence of the ruthlessness of time on the bodies of his characters. Antonio defines his works with one general title: “Self-portrait”, because in his pencil drawings he not only depicts a person, but allows the viewer to contemplate the real results of the passage of time inside a person.

Flaminia Carloni

Flaminia Carloni is a 37-year-old Italian artist, the daughter of a diplomat. She has three children. Twelve years she lived in Rome, three years in England and France. Received a degree in art history from the BD School of Art. Then she received a diploma in the specialty restorer of works of art. Before finding her calling and devoting herself entirely to painting, she worked as a journalist, colorist, designer, and actress.

Flaminia's passion for painting arose as a child. Her main medium is oil because she loves “coiffer la pate” and also plays with the material. She learned a similar technique in the works of the artist Pascal Torua. Flaminia is inspired by the great masters of painting such as Balthus, Hopper, and François Legrand, as well as various art movements: street art, Chinese realism, surrealism and renaissance realism. Her favorite artist is Caravaggio. Her dream is to discover the therapeutic power of art.

Denis Chernov

Denis Chernov is a talented Ukrainian artist, born in 1978 in Sambir, Lviv region, Ukraine. After graduating from the Kharkov Art College in 1998, he stayed in Kharkov, where he currently lives and works. He also studied at the Kharkov State Academy of Design and Arts, Department of Graphics, graduated in 2004.

He regularly participates in art exhibitions, at the moment there have been more than sixty of them, both in Ukraine and abroad. Most of Denis Chernov's works are kept in private collections in Ukraine, Russia, Italy, England, Spain, Greece, France, USA, Canada and Japan. Some of the works were sold at Christie's.

Denis works in a wide range of graphic and painting techniques. Pencil drawings are one of his favorite painting methods, the list of topics of his pencil drawings is also very diverse, he paints landscapes, portraits, nudes, genre compositions, book illustrations, literary and historical reconstructions and fantasies.