For the work of Magdalena Abakanowicz entitled “Bambini” – 83 sculptures depicting children’s silhouettes – at the Tuesday auction of Polswiss Art, PLN 13.6 million was paid. This is a new record on the art market in Poland, it is also the most expensive-selling work by Magdalena Abakanowicz in the world.
“Magdalena Abakanowicz broke her own record with another record! The work was auctioned from PLN 9 million to PLN 11 million 300 thousand, which together with the auction fees gives a record amount of PLN 13 617 361,” informed Marta Rydzyńska, representing the Polswiss Art Auction House.
“Bambini” is Abakanowicz’s first work, to which the artist gave an unprecedented scale. It was established at the turn of 1998 and 1999 and was then the most numerous of its headless “crowds” – an iconic series for world contemporary art.
The work was created for the Palais-Royal Garden in Paris, but it was first exhibited at the famous “Abakanowicz on the Roof” exhibition on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The work has been exhibited many times – incl. in Berlin, Paris, Warsaw, New York, Poznań, German Bad Homburg, Madrid, Dusseldorf, Milan.