The $3.5 Million Broken Egg
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For a reported price tag of $3.5 million, billionaire Eli Broad bought Jeff Koons’s sculpture “Cracked Egg (Blue)” at London’s Frieze Art Fair yesterday. The purchase — from the Gagosian Gallery — was made during a VIP preview of the fair open only to invited guests; the fair begins today and runs through Sunday in Regent’s Park.
Will Mr. Broad’s early and enthusiastic purchase set the tone for the market? The fair, now in its fourth year, generated sales of more than $50 million last year. The list of high-profile, deep-pocketed guests who have filed into the exclusive preview show gives every indication that this year’s fair will be a hot one.
Top-flight auction bigs, including the head of contemporary art for Sotheby’s worldwide, Tobias Meyer, turned up at the preview, as did the international architectriste Zaha Hadid, winner of the Pritzker Prize. Museum types such as the director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Michael Govan, and the curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, Thelma Golden, were also on hand and will surely use the fair to boost the collections of their institutions. The preview drew famous faces such as model Claudia Schiffer and well-known collectors such as Charles Saatchi, as well as Mr. Broad, the proud owner of a new cracked, blue egg.
Mr. Koons’s sculpture is part of the Celebration series, which the artist began in 1994 with “Balloon Dog.” There are five versions of “Cracked Egg,” including the artist’s proof, each in a different color.
Mr. Broad, who built two Fortune 500 companies, SunAmerica Inc. and KB Home, has created a philanthropic foundation that is dedicated to changing public education. In addition, the Broad Art Foundation has established a vast collection of contemporary art that is lent out to more than 400 museums and university galleries around the world.
Mr. Broad, 73, a trustee of MoMA, said he is feeling the effects of the skyrocketing prices in contemporary art. “Unfortunately, we’re paying more for Koons than we did in the 1980s,” he said, according to Bloomberg News. “But if you’re a collector, you buy a work when you find it. We don’t pause when prices rise. The only thing that happens is our insurance bills go up.”