How much would you pay for a sculpture of Hitler?
The highly anticipated art auction season arrived yesterday with a specially curated sale that includes some rather unusual pieces.
The auction will present a sculpture of a kneeling Hitler figure by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan and a ball suspended in a water tank by artist Jeff Koons.
Both works are coming to auction for the first time. 'Him,' Cattelan's controversial sculpture of Hitler appears as a small child kneeling in prayer when approached from the rear.
Maurizio Cattelan's "Him" is the sale's top lot & sets world auction record for the artist selling for $17,189,000 pic.twitter.com/1Hly5qMI0S
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) 8 May 2016
But from the front, the viewer comes face-to-face with the unmistakable likeness of Hitler.
The bizarre sculpture was estimated to bring in between $10 and $15 million before the auction and ended up selling for a staggering $17,189,000.
The 2001 work of art was made with human hair, wax and polyester resin and it is the artist's proof model from an edition of three.
Jeff Koons' "One Ball Total Equilibrium Tank (Spalding Dr. J Silver Series) sells for $15,285,000 pic.twitter.com/v9U9Rp6eJ3
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) 8 May 2016
The sculpture was also included in the artist's retrospective at the Guggenheim in 2011.
Jeff Koons' work, which shows a Spalding basketball suspended in water, was also sold yesterday at Christie's for $15,285,000.
A number of other artists with work featuring in the sale saw their previous auction records broken as the works of art continued to sell for high figures.
Richard Prince's work 'Anyone Can Find Me' even managed to set a world auction record for a sculpture by the artist when it sold for $2,741,000 yesterday.
Make your way to the Christie's website if you want to find out more about the works of art sold yesterday.