Brâncuși's "Danaïda" Becomes Second Most Expensive Sculpture in History

Constantin Brâncuși's "Danaïda" was sold at Christie's for $107.6 million, making it the second most expensive sculpture in auction history.

Before this auction, the three most expensive sculptures in history were all works by Alberto Giacometti. "L'homme au doigt," sold for $141.3 million at Christie’s in New York in 2015, now remains the most expensive sculpture, with "Danaïda" in the second position. Giacometti's "L'homme qui marche I" rounds out the podium, sold for $104.3 million in 2010.

Margit Pogany, a young Hungarian artist whom Brâncuși met in Paris in 1910, inspired the face for "Danaïda." The sculpture features a stylized and gilded face with large eyelids, framed by prominent arched eyebrows.

"The gold reserved for the face and the black patina of the hair give the face a meditative elegance and refinement reminiscent of Buddhist art from East Asia, which Brâncuși admired at the Guimet Museum," said Marielle Tabart, an expert on Brâncuși's work, as cited by the Centre Pompidou website.

According to the Parisian museum, which holds an identical piece in its collection, Brâncuși created several bronze versions of "Danaïda" between 1913 and 1918. Other examples are on display at the Tate in London, the Kunst Museum in Winterthur near Zurich, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Christie's noted that the gilded version sold was the last remaining in private hands. Cast in 1913, it was acquired by Eugene Meyer, a banker and patron of the arts, and his wife Agnes, who were friends of Brâncuși, on the occasion of the artist's first personal exhibition in New York in 1S.