Jeff Koons has once again entered into a cooperation with the traditional porcelain manufacturer Bernardaud in Limoges to produce a new object. Bernardaud has been a family business in Limoges, the epicenter of porcelain production in Europe, since 1863. The Jeff Koons Balloon Dogs were also made there. The Diamond (Red) sculpture is made of porcelain and measures approximately 35 x 35 cm. In 2007, the larger-than-life version of Jeff Koons Blue Diamond was sold at Christie’s Auctions in New York for 11.8 million dollars to the art dealer Larry Gagosian. The Diamond (Red) is from Jeff Koons’ 1994 Celebration collection, a groundbreaking series that included sculptures and paintings of his iconic Balloon Dog and other objects such as Cracked Egg and Hanging Heart. Koons’ other sculptural depictions of animals include Rabbit, a three-foot version of which sold at Christie’s in 2019 for more than $91 million. This sale holds the record for the most expensive work by a living artist sold at auction.

Between art and kitsch / Jeff Koons

Born in Philadelphia in 1955, Koons wanted one thing above all else: to become rich and famous. After studying art, he worked at the Museum of Modern Art and as a broker in New York for several years from 1976 in order to finance his works himself. He soon created the first of his legendary balloon animals, and the shooting star of neo-pop art went from strength to strength. The colorful 80s came at just the right time for Koons, who names Marcel Duchamps, Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso and, of course, Andy Warhol among the most important artists who inspired him. In his works, Jeff Koons uses everyday objects that often have a strong connection to his childhood. He imitates them, alienates them, exaggerates them, sexualizes them or groups them with advertising, photographs or comics to create large-format collages. Since the auction of the stainless steel sculpture Rabbit in 2019, Jeff Koons is once again the most expensive living artist. Diamond (Red) has the potential to build on this success. Diamond (Red) is a limited edition by Jeff Koons that transforms the monumental Celebration sculpture into Limoges porcelain made in the Bernardaud workshops. Diamond is part of Koons’ iconic Celebration series, which was created in 1994 and consists of sixteen paintings and twenty large-scale sculptures. The original 7-foot-long Diamond (1994-2005) was created in five unique colors (green, pink, blue, yellow and red) of mirror-polished stainless steel with a transparent color coating. The Celebration series was inspired by significant moments within the calendar year, such as the celebration of an anniversary, which was captured in Diamond. There is a romantic aspect to the works, but for the artist there is also a biological narrative. In Koons’ own words, “It’s not about bling; but it’s about the moment of creation. The posts on the sides of the diamond represent male energy, and the diamond is an egg. A symbol of masculine energy, the sperm, has already entered the egg and all facets of life are unfolding. If you go back to the furthest point back here, that’s as far back as we can go in human history. That represents the truest narrative we have of human history, which is our genes and our DNA. I wanted to start making work that was more about an inner connection. Just as our genes and our DNA are connected, like a double helix, so are our cultural lives.” Diamond’s reflective surface is a recurring element in Koons’ oeuvre, which spans four decades, beginning with the readymade mirrors in the Inflatable series from the late 1970s. Through the highly reflective surfaces, Koons’ artworks interact with their surroundings, but also with the viewer, changing and evolving in each unique environment.

The current auction record for this edition is USD 36,403 and was achieved in July 2021 at the Ravenel auction house in Taiwan (lot: 311). The matching sculpture Diamond Blue by Jeff Koons, also made by Bernardaud, was released in November 2023.