LONDON (REUTERS) – David Hockney's Los Angeles pool painting "The Splash" fetched £23.1 million (S$41 million) at a sale on London on Tuesday, auctioneers Sotheby's said, compared with a pre-sale estimate of 20 to 30 million pounds.
The 1966 work is a square acrylic painting showing the moment water splashes up in a swimming pool just after a diver enters.
The 82-year-old British artist painted it when he lived in Los Angeles, where his long-running interest in swimming pool subjects began.
The composition of "The Splash", including the angled diving board, was inspired by a photograph Hockney saw in a Hollywood magazine on how to build swimming pools.
"I loved the idea of painting this thing that lasts for two seconds; it takes me two weeks to paint this event that lasts for two seconds," he said of the painting in a 1976 book, Hockney by Hockney.
It is the second in a series of three splash paintings.
"A Little Splash" is in a private collection and "A Bigger Splash"is in London's Tate Britain gallery.
The last time this picture was sold at auction, in 2006, it went for £2.9 million.
"It's an icon of Pop that defined aRead More – Source
LONDON (REUTERS) – David Hockney's Los Angeles pool painting "The Splash" fetched £23.1 million (S$41 million) at a sale on London on Tuesday, auctioneers Sotheby's said, compared with a pre-sale estimate of 20 to 30 million pounds.
The 1966 work is a square acrylic painting showing the moment water splashes up in a swimming pool just after a diver enters.
The 82-year-old British artist painted it when he lived in Los Angeles, where his long-running interest in swimming pool subjects began.
The composition of "The Splash", including the angled diving board, was inspired by a photograph Hockney saw in a Hollywood magazine on how to build swimming pools.
"I loved the idea of painting this thing that lasts for two seconds; it takes me two weeks to paint this event that lasts for two seconds," he said of the painting in a 1976 book, Hockney by Hockney.
It is the second in a series of three splash paintings.
"A Little Splash" is in a private collection and "A Bigger Splash"is in London's Tate Britain gallery.
The last time this picture was sold at auction, in 2006, it went for £2.9 million.
"It's an icon of Pop that defined aRead More – Source
