Painting by Adrian Ghenie sold for EUR 100,000 in Bucharest auction

The work “Self-Portrait”, oil on cardboard by Adrian Ghenie, was awarded on Tuesday for the sum of 99,999 euros at a postmodern and contemporary art auction organized in Bucharest. The work, estimated to be worth between 50,000 and 70,000 euros, was created between 2003 and 2004. The final auction price was 99,999 euros, according to auction site Artmark.

The painting is part of a wider cycle, which the author dedicates to the fragmentation and decomposition of the faces or objects that he pictorially records in his works. Captured from the profile, the face portrait viscerally departs from everyday reality.

In another portrait made in the same period, Adrian Ghenie captures the model in frontal view, giving us direct access to the entire face of the same character. The protagonist’s eyes, nose, chin and neck are completely covered, through make-up and technical and stylistic permutations. The rest of the epidermis is transformed into fragments and pieces imitating technical materials, thus leaving room for psychological interpretations. The artist opts for the same chromaticity in all the works made for this series, so that the reddish or brick-brown shades contribute to the oppressive atmosphere that the entire composition emanates.

Romanian-born Adrian Ghenie has set new sales records in recent years. His painting “Pie fight Interior 12”, made in 2014, was recently awarded in May 2022 for 8,000,000 euros at an auction in Hong Kong.

At profile events in Romania, his record for another compositional self-portrait (2006-2009) was registered at Artmark, in December 2019, for 150,000 euros.