The Nurse That Set Roy Lichtenstein's Auction Record
3 min read · 20 Jan 2025
Nurse. Image courtesy of Christie's
Roy Lichtenstein, Nurse (1964), sold for $95.36m at Christie's in New York on November 09, 2015. The oil and magna on canvas work had been traded four times before.
Lichtenstein's portrait of a nurse in signature Ben-Day dots was first bought by Leon Kraushar, an advertising executive who in the early 1960s amassed one of the great collections of Pop Art. It was then owned by Karl Ströher, a German industrialist whose family owned the Wella hair-care brand, followed by Peter Brant, among others.
Woman with Flowered Hat. Image courtesy of Christie's
The sale beat Lichtenstein's previous auction record by $39.24m, a 69% rise. The previous record was set by Woman with Flowered Hat (1963), which sold for $56.12m at Christie's on May 15, 2013. The work had been traded six times in the past.
A Brief History of Roy Lichtenstein at Auction
Sale Date | Title | Price | Record Increase | Venue | City |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2015-11-09 | Nurse | $95.36m | 70 % | Christie's | New York |
2013-05-15 | Woman with Flowered Hat | $56.12m | 25 % | Christie's | New York |
2012-05-09 | Sleeping Girl | $44.88m | 4 % | Sotheby's | New York |
2011-11-08 | I Can See the Whole Room!...and There's Nobody in it! | $43.2m | 1 % | Christie's | New York |
2010-11-10 | Ohhh...Alright.. | $42.64m | 194 % | Christie's | New York |
2005-11-08 | In the car | $14.5m | 103 % | Christie's | New York |
2002-11-13 | Happy Tears | $7.16m | 30 % | Christie's | New York |
1990-05-07 | Kiss II | $5.5m | 10 % | Christie's | New York |
1989-11-07 | Torpedo...Los | $5m | 163 % | Christie's | New York |
1988-11-09 | I Can See the Whole Room!...and There's Nobody in it! | $1.9m | 164 % | Christie's | New York |
1986-11-12 | Blang | $720,000 | 38 % | Christie's | New York |
1985-05-02 | Reclining nude | $522,500 | 149 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1980-05-15 | Oh, Jeff...I Love You, Too...But... | $210,000 | 100 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1970-11-18 | Tack | $105,000 | - | Sotheby's | New York |
Get the HENI News Daily Art Digest delivered to your inbox