Andy Warhol (1928-1987) Coca-Cola
casein on cotton 69 3/8 x 54 in. (176.2 x 137.2 cm.)
Painted in 1962.
Estimate: $40,000,000-60,000,000
Gerhard Richter (b. 1932) Abstraktes Bild (809-1)
oil on canvas 88 ½ x 78 ¾ in. (224.8 x 200 cm.)
Painted in 1994.
Estimate: On Request
Warhol’s ‘Coca Cola’, Richter’s ‘Abstraktes’ at Christie’s On November 12 2013, Christie’s will offer ‘Coca-Cola (3)’, one of the most famous Pop Art masterworks by Andy Warhol (painted in 1962), as well as Gerhard Richter’s ‘Abstraktes Bild (809-1)’ from the collection of Eric Clapton.]]>
October 3, 2013, source: Christie’s
“Coca-Cola (3)” by Andy Warhol
“I feel I represent the U.S. in my art but I’m not a social critic. I just paint those things in my paintings because those are the things I know best. I’m not trying to criticize the U.S. in any way, not show up any ugliness at all. I’m just a pure artist I guess.”
Andy Warhol (1928-1987)
Painted in 1962, not only is “Coca-Cola (3)” a unique hand-painted picture — not a silkscreen — its subject has become the epitome of Pop. Warhol paints his monumental bottle of Coca-Cola as tall as a human, its dramatic black and white contours creating an instantaneous impact. With an estimate of $40,000,000-60,000,000, “Coca Cola (3)” has resided within the same private collection for almost two decades, and has been featured prominently in every major Warhol exhibition.
An enduring symbol of the United States as a whole, the Coca-Cola bottle is a fascinating, if also troubling, icon of modern mass-consumerist culture. “Coca Cola (3)” is an historic work and as Warhol’s memoirs of the 1960s attest, the story of its genesis is also the story of the beginnings of Pop art in America.
“Abstraktes Bild (809-1)” by Gerhard Richter
An infinitely evocative meditation on color, texture, and its rhythmic motion across canvas, this magnificent, vibrant work stands among Gerhard Richter’s summary essays in abstraction. Executed in concert with three such masterpieces, this series reflects the artist at the apex of his formalist-aleatory operations.
Arresting in its compositional complexity, effulgent in its coloration, presenting an almost hallucinatory confusion of planes and shapes, “Abstraktes Bild (809-1)” is stunning for its surface agitations, a riot of textures and color fields that destabilizes even as it rewards looking.
“Abstraktes Bild (809-1)” is coming from the prestigious collection of Eric Clapton, and was acquired at auction in 2001.
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Richter’s ‘Abstraktes Bild’ sells for £21,3M at Sotheby’s (October 2012)
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