Christie's sold digital painting for the first time

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Collecting contemporary art seems to many to be an occupation that only incredibly wealthy people can afford - for example, François Pinault. However, with the advent of digital art, everything has changed - young artists sell their websites, videos, or even GIFs at a fraction of the price of artists working with physical objects. We've put together a guide to buying and selling digital art for those looking to preserve online art for themselves and future generations.

Auction house Christie's sold the digital painting "Everydays: The First 5000 Days" by artist Mike Winkelmann (Beeple) for a record $ 69.35 million. This was reported on the website of the auction house.

The work is a collage of pictures that the artist has been publishing on the Internet since 2007. The painting was sold as a non-fungible token (NFT). The auction lasted for two weeks, and the bidding began with a starting price of $ 100.

It is noted that this is the first work in the world that was sold on a large platform in the form of non-fungible tokens - digital assets based on blockchain technology that allows one to acquire ownership of a product that exists exclusively on the Internet. Christie's stressed that after the last auction, Beeple became the third in the list of the most expensive artists of our time, second only to the American Jeff Koons, who created the sculpture "Rabbit" (sold for $ 91, 1 million in 2019) and the British David Hockney, who wrote "Portrait of the Artist (Pool with two figures) "(sold for $ 90, 3 million in 2018).

Beeple, 39, has been creating The First 5,000 Days, a huge collage of several thousand images, since 2007. According to him, he has added one small detail to this common work every day for more than 13 years. "This is crazy. I think we are witnessing the writing of a new chapter in the history of painting," - said after the auction Beeple, quoted by Reuters.

Winkelmann grew up in North-Fon-du-Lac, Wisconsin, with a population of 5,000. He graduated from Purdue University in Indiana in 2003 with a degree in Computer Science. He took his nickname after the plush toy that made sounds when touched her nose. The artist currently lives in Charleston (South Carolina) with his wife and two children.