''Execution'' is a 1995 painting by

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

artist

Yue Minjun Yue Minjun (; born 1962) is a contemporary Chinese artist based in Beijing, China. He is best known for oil paintings depicting himself in various settings, frozen in laughter. He has also reproduced this signature image in sculpture, watercolou ...

. The piece was inspired by the

1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between t ...

, although the artist stated that the piece should not be viewed as depicting what happened at

Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square () is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen ("''Gate of Heavenly Peace''") located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City. The square contains th ...

.CNN Edition Oct 11 2007 world news.
'Execution' artist rejects Tiananmen label. Retrieved 10-14-2007. In 2007 it became the most expensive work sold by a Chinese contemporary artist.Thestaronline.com
Thestar Oct 13, 2007. Chinese painting sets sales record at London auction. Retrieved Oct 14, 2007.

Overview

Yue Minjun painted ''Execution'' in 1995 in a month. He sold the painting to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

art dealer Manfred Schoeni for $5,000. Trevor Simon, an investment banker, stumbled across the painting in 1996 in the back of a Hong Kong gallery. He convinced Schoeni to sell the piece for

HK$ The Hong Kong dollar (, sign: HK$; code: HKD) is the official currency of Hong Kong. It is divided into 100 cents. Historically, it was also divided into 1000 mils. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is the monetary authority of Hong Kong an ...

250,000 /

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

32,200. The painting was then shipped from Hong Kong to London, where Simon stored it in a warehouse. Under the terms, the painting was to remain out of sight for five years in a warehouse. In 2007, ''Execution'' became the most expensive work of Chinese contemporary art, selling for £2.9 million /

5.9 million /

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

4.2 million at London's

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

. The art piece was billed by Sotheby's as "Among the most historically important paintings of the Chinese avant-garde ever to appear at auction." Simon called Yue a brave man for painting something so politically dangerous. The artist, Yue, denies that his paintings are a veiled criticism of his

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

or of Chinese society, and he does not believe his work will bring him trouble. The painting has been compared to Goya's ''

The Third of May 1808 ''The Third of May 1808 in Madrid'' (commonly known as ''The Third of May 1808'')The Museo del Prado entitles the work El 3 de mayo de 1808 en Madrid: los fusilamientos en la montaña del Príncipe Pío'' and also known, in Spanish, as or , or ...

'' and Manet's ''

The Execution of Emperor Maximilian ''The Execution of Emperor Maximilian'' is a series of paintings by Édouard Manet from 1867 to 1869, depicting the execution by firing squad of Emperor Maximilian I of the short-lived Second Mexican Empire. Manet produced three large oil ...

''.

References

{{reflist 1995 paintings Chinese paintings 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre Paintings about death