Life’s Canvas

Money can’t buy you happiness, but it certainly can buy Willem de Kooning’s art. Interchange, $300 million worth painting completed in 1955, is the world’s most expensive art piece. But wait... this is not its final price. This oil on canvas painting by the Dutch-American abstract expressionist was sold for $500 million at a private charity event along with Jackson Pollock’s Number 17. Originally sold for $20.68 million in 1989, Interchange managed to become the most valuable art piece by a living artist. Bought by the estate of Edgar J Kauffman Jr. for $4,000 in 1989, the painting now hangs on the walls of the Art Institute of Chicago on loan. Interchange depicts the aftermath of World War II, portraying the ugly side of it, evoking sense of dynamism and motion.

So, if you are looking for some history in art, you know where to head out.

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Interchange by Willem de Kooning. Price: $300 million.

From the September 2017 issue of L’Officiel India.