A statue of Hitler on his knees was auctioned on Sunday for $17.2 million, a record for a work by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.
A statue of Hitler on his knees was auctioned on Sunday for $17.2 million, a record for a work by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.
The wax and resin statue entitled simply Him had been expected to fetch between $10 million and $15 million at the auction by Christie’s.
The previous record for a work by Cattelan, who is 55, was $7.9 million. In the statue, Hitler is depicted as being the size of boy, on his knees in a gray woolen suit, with his hands clasped together as he gazes upward. The work was completed in 2001.
The sale came as part of a themed auction called “Bound to Fail,” a selection of 39 works of modern and contemporary art exploring the idea of commercial failure and risk-taking to expand the boundaries of art. Loic Gouzer, deputy chairman of post-war and contemporary art with Christie’s who created the theme-oriented auction evenings, called this particular sale “difficult.”
