Marc Quinn is a British contemporary visual artist whose work includes sculpture, installation, and painting. Quinn explores "what it is to be human in the world today" through subjects including the body, genetics, identity, environment, and the media. His work has used materials that vary widely, from blood, bread and flowers, to marble and stainless steel. Quinn has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Sir John Soane's Museum, the Tate Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Fondation Beyeler, Fondazione Prada, and South London Gallery. The artist was a notable member of the Young British Artists movement.
Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist and art collector. He is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest living artist, with his wealth estimated at US$384 million in the 2020 Sunday Times Rich List. During the 1990s his career was closely linked with the collector Charles Saatchi, but increasing frictions came to a head in 2003 and the relationship ended.
Marcus Harvey is an English artist and painter, one of the Young British Artists (YBAs).
The Colony Room Club was a private members' drinking club at 41 Dean Street, Soho, London. It was founded and presided over by Muriel Belcher from its inception in 1948 until her death in 1979.
Sensation was an exhibition of the collection of contemporary art owned by Charles Saatchi, including many works by Young British Artists (YBAs), which first took place 18 September – 28 December 1997 at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The exhibition later toured to the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin and the Brooklyn Museum in New York City. A proposed showing at the National Gallery of Australia was cancelled when the gallery's director decided the exhibition was "too close to the market."
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is a museum of American art in Bentonville, Arkansas. The museum, founded by Alice Walton and designed by Moshe Safdie, officially opened on 11 November 2011. It offers free public admission.
Dora Maar au Chat is an oil-on-canvas painting by Pablo Picasso. It was painted in 1941 and depicts Dora Maar, the artist's lover, seated on a chair with a small cat perched on her shoulders. The painting is listed as one of the most expensive paintings, after achieving a price of $95 million at Sotheby's on 3 May 2006. It is currently the sixth-highest-selling painting by Picasso.
Christian Furr is an English painter. In 1995 he was commissioned to paint Queen Elizabeth II.
Spin art is an art form that uses paint, a canvas such as glossy cardboard and a spinning platform. It is primarily used to entertain and expose children to the process of art creation, although it can be enjoyed by people of all ages.
The Government Art Collection (GAC) is the collection of artworks owned by the UK government and administered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The GAC's artworks are used to decorate major government buildings in the UK and around the world, and to promote British art, culture and history. The GAC now holds over 14,000 works of art in a variety of media, including around 2,500 oil paintings, but also sculpture, prints, drawings, photographs, textiles and video works, mainly created by British artists or artist with a strong connection to the UK, from the sixteenth century to the present day. Works are displayed in several hundred locations, including Downing Street, ministerial offices and reception areas in Whitehall, regional government offices in the UK, and diplomatic posts outside the UK.
Beautiful Inside My Head Forever was a two-day auction of new work at Sotheby's, London, taking place on 15 and 16 September 2008. It was unusual as Damien Hirst bypassed galleries and sold directly to the public. The sale raised £111 million for 218 items. The auction exceeded expectations, setting a record for a single-artist auction, occurring as the financial markets plunged.
Pauline Karpidas is an English contemporary art collector, private art space benefactor, socialite, and patron of the arts. She lives in the United States.
Bernardino de 'Conti was an Italian Renaissance painter, born in 1465 in Castelseprio and died around 1525.
The year 2012 in art involves some significant events.
Portrait of a Man with Arms Akimbo, formerly known as Portrait of a Foreign Admiral or Portrait of a Dutch Admiral, is an oil painting portrait by Rembrandt signed and dated 1658. It is now in the collection of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, and measures 107.4 cm by 87.0 cm.
La Gommeuse is a 1901 oil-on-canvas painting by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. It dates from his Blue Period and is noted for its caricature of Picasso's friend Pere Mañach painted on the reverse. Gommeuse was sexually charged slang of the time for café-concert singers and their songs. It was offered for sale ex the William I. Koch collection at a Sotheby's, New York, auction on 5 November 2015. The painting realized $67.5 million at the sale, a record for a Blue Period Picasso, placing the painting among the most expensive ever sold.
David Bowie owned an extensive private art collection which included paintings, sculpture and furniture. He started collecting art in the mid-1970s and continued through the end of his life. His collection included paintings that he himself painted.
The Splash is a 1966 pop art painting by the British artist David Hockney. It depicts a swimming pool beside a pavilion, disturbed by a splash of water created by an unseen figure who has apparently just jumped in from a diving board. It is made in acrylic on a 72 in (180 cm) square canvas, and is titled, signed and dated 1966 on the reverse. It is one of three connected works painted in 1966 and 1967: the others are A Little Splash, and A Bigger Splash.
Le Repos is an oil-on-canvas painting created by Pablo Picasso in 1932. It depicts a portrait of Marie-Thérèse Walter, the artist's lover and muse, in a sleeping pose. The painting was produced in the midst of their relationship and is a demonstration of Picasso's love for his mistress. Le Repos was one of a series of sleeping portraits of Walter that Picasso created in 1932. On 14 May 2018, the painting achieved a value of $36.9 million when it was sold at Sotheby's auction.
