The Pinball Painting That Set Wayne Thiebaud's Auction Record

Wayne Thiebaud's Four Pinball Machines (1962) sold for $19.14m at Christie's in New York on July 10, 2020. The oil on canvas work had been traded 3 times in the past.

Wayne Thiebaud painted Four Pinball Machines the year of his first New York solo show, which was a critical and commercial success. Presented by the Allan Stone Gallery, Stone was the dealer who famously turned down Andy Warhol because he said he could not draw. But the galleriest immediately recognized Thiebaud's ability to turn cakes, racks of ties, delicatessen counters and pinball machines into memorable and original Pop art paintings. He represented the artist for the next four decades.

The largest of Thiebaud's early pinball-machine paintings, the artist was drawn to their abstract quality when they were, in fact, banned in New York along with other US cities. The prohibition, which began in the late 1930s, was a response to concerns about gambling and pinball's links to mobsters.

The sale beat Thiebaud's previous auction record by $10.67m, a 125% rise. The arist's previous record was set by Encased Cakes (2010), which sold for $8.46m at Sotheby's on November 14, 2019.

A Brief History of Wayne Thiebaud at Auction