Montreal: A painting that was bought for less than CA$5 (Rs 300) from a donation centre outside a Canadian landfill is now up for auction after it was found that it was the original painting by British pop icon David Bowie. The painting now has frantic bidders lining up for a chance to own it.
Titled ‘D Head XLVI’, the painting is part of a series that Bowie created between 1995 and 1997. Notably, the artwork has received opening bids of CA$15,000 (Rs 9.09 lakh). Interestingly, the acrylic collage on canvas is part of the so-called ‘D Head’ series of portraits of the Ziggy Stardust rocker himself, his friends and others. Notably, the artwork is signed on the back with his initials.
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However, the opening bids of more than 15,000 CAD blew past Toronto auction house Cowley Abbot’s estimated 9,000 CAD to 12,000 CAD valuation of the diminutive artwork.
The painting was originally sold through a website in 2001. Ans it was found somehow itself two decades later at a donations store in South River, Ontario — 300 kilometres north of Toronto. There, an anonymous buyer paid 5 CAD for it.
As per update, Bowie had attended art school and was an avid collector and his estate had fetched tens of millions of dollars after his death in January 2016 for some 350 works from his collection — including by Basquiat, Henry Moore and Damien Hirst.