Clapton knows art of the deal
Eric Clapton is known as Slowhand but he knows how to make a quick buck.
The musician is set to sell a Gerhard Richter painting with an estimated value of $20 million, meaning that he will have made nearly $72 million from three of the German artist’s paintings, which he bought in a job lot for $3.4 million in 2001.
He sold the other two works in 2012 and 2013 for a combined $55.2 million.
“It’s an amazing return in 15 years,” said Francis Outred, chairman of Christie’s auction house.
The three Richters bought by Clapton were part of a four-part series from 1994, the other one of which is jointly held by the Tate and National Galleries of Scotland.
The financial acumen of Clapton, who was born in Ripley, Surrey, is in stark contrast to his decadent younger years. He is a recovering alcoholic who once drove around with a bottle stashed by his pedals while he would spend the equivalent of $10,000 a week on heroin.
Clapton, 71, told Classic Rock magazine this year that he considered it “a great thing to be alive at all,” adding: “By rights I should have kicked the bucket a long time ago. For some reason I was plucked from the jaws of hell and given another chance.”
Regularly placed in lists of the top five guitarists of all time, Clapton is the only person to be inducted three times into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The sale of the Richter painting at Christie’s in New York next month will test the market for the artist, the value of whose work has fallen in recent months. Two of his pieces were withdrawn from sale earlier this year.
Richter, 84, is one of the world’s most valuable living artists, and when Clapton sold one work in 2012 for $34.2 million it was then the highest price paid at auction for a living artist. One of his works was sold last year for $46.4 million, a record for a living European artist.