The Den
The Den
Signed Mixed Media
Roy Lichtenstein
£60,000-£90,000 VALUE (EST.)
$110,000-$170,000 VALUE (EST.)
$100,000-$150,000 VALUE (EST.)
¥500,000-¥760,000 VALUE (EST.)
€70,000-€100,000 VALUE (EST.)
$580,000-$870,000 VALUE (EST.)
¥9,690,000-¥14,530,000 VALUE (EST.)
$70,000-$110,000 VALUE (EST.)
This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
Mixed Media, 1990
Signed Mixed Media Edition of 60
H 145cm x W 180cm
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Toni Clayton, American Pop & Modern Specialist
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Auction Results
| Auction Date | Auction House | Artwork | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sotheby's London - United Kingdom | The Den - Signed Mixed Media | ||||
| November 2015 | Sotheby's New York - United States | The Den - Signed Mixed Media | |||
| February 2013 | Phillips London - United Kingdom | The Den - Signed Mixed Media | |||
| October 2003 | Bonhams New Bond Street - United Kingdom | The Den - Signed Mixed Media |
Meaning & Analysis
Executed in 1990, The Den belongs to Roy Lichtenstein’s intricate Interior series. Completed towards the end of the artist’s career, the sequence was inspired by clippings and images collected from ordinary furniture advertisements. This signed woodcut and screen print in colours on museum board was manufactured as part of a limited edition of 60.
Lichtenstein’s Interior artworks of the early 1990s takes the ultimate image of quotidian domesticity as its main subject matter. The intricate collection is rendered in the artist’s characteristic palette of bold primary colours, delineated outlines, and Ben Day dots. Lichtenstein’s interior prints reflect the artist’s fascination with the paradoxical relationship between fine art and design. The sequence is also a unique manifestation of the varied conceptual ideas and technical skills honed by the artist throughout his career.
Similar to Modern Room of the same series, The Den captures a mundane interior, an office space perhaps, populated by an armchair, a coffee table, and a desk. The walls enclosing the room have been rendered in regimented and varied patterns mimicking faux-wood and burlap. Meanwhile, the furniture is monochrome and simplified. The portrait on the wall, the lamp, and the flower vase are strategically situated around the space and hint at the inhabitant’s personal preferences.
The glassy surfaces and the slidable window screen on the left both point to Lichtenstein’s career-long intrigue with the visual effects of light and reflection. By taking the pervasive visual style of commercial design and incorporating it into his own work, Lichtenstein enhances and reinvents the familiarity of his chosen domestic space.
