Mario Schifano Value: Top Prices Paid at Auction

Tempo Moderno (1962) achieved Schifano's current auction record when it sold at Sotheby's Paris in October 2022, far exceeding its high estimate of €1.2 million. This enamel work exemplifies Schifano's early 1960s style, with its striking composition of two large red oblongs dividing up a textured, dripping white background. The work's title, "Modern Time," references the rapid modernisation and cultural shifts of early 1960s Italy, as the country embraced consumerism. The bold, geometric composition engages with contemporary advertising aesthetics, though Schifano’s visible brushwork and thick paint drips create humanising imperfections. The work, therefore, sits at the intersection of abstraction and Pop Art - a place Schifano occupied for much of his career. Its provenance includes the prestigious Studio Marconi in Milan, a gallery that played a crucial role in promoting Italian contemporary art during the 1960s and 1970s.

La Stanza Dei Disegni (The Drawing Room) (1962) sold at Christie's Paris in October 2022. Created in 1962, this geometric gridded composition features a vibrant colour palette of black, red, and white enamel paint applied to paper, which was then laid down on canvas. It reflects Schifano's interest in the aesthetics of commercial advertising prevalent in early 1960s Rome, combining geometric abstraction with elements reminiscent of colour field painting. The title suggests a space for artistic creation, possibly referencing Schifano's own studio environment during this prolific period. The painting's impressive provenance includes Studio Marconi in Milan, Galleria La Bertesca in Genoa, and Galleria Rondanini in Rome - all significant institutions in the promotion of contemporary Italian art. The exceptional sales result, combined with the record-breaking sale of Tempo Moderno (1962) in the same month, confirms the particularly strong market appeal of Schifano's early 1960s works, especially those featuring his distinctive approach to colour, composition, and materials.

Cartello (1960), the title of which translates to “Billboard,” achieved this result in an online Sotheby's auction in Italy in November 2021. This large enamel painting represents an important transition point between Schifano's early Monocromi series and his subsequent engagement with advertising imagery. The work presents a predominantly black field that suggests the emptiness of an unused billboard - a commentary on the increasing presence of commercial imagery in the urban landscape of post-war Italy. The painting's title directly references the advertising structures that were reshaping Italian society in the 1960s, both visually and socially. Schifano's interest in these commercial spaces preceded his more explicit appropriations of corporate logos like Coca-Cola and Esso, positioning Cartello (1960) as a conceptual bridge between abstraction and Pop Art.

The paradoxically-titled Grande Particolare (1963) achieved almost 150% of its high estimate at Christie's London in March 2022. The painting's title suggests it may be a zoomed-in portion of a larger scene or concept, reflecting Schifano's interest in fragmenting and recontextualising visual information. Visible on the surface are the words “Cielo” to denote the sky, “Alberi” to denote where the verdant landscape might be, “Terra” to mark the ground, and “Grande Particolare” to mark the unpainted expanse beneath. As such, it forms a kind of map. Its large scale, with two canvases coming together to form a 2 metre by 2 metre square, adds to the piece’s uniqueness, and its appeal to collectors. The piece, although being exhibited in various institutions, such as the Yurakucho Art Forum in Tokyo, has remained in a single private collection since its original sale from Galleria Odyssia, Rome, in 1963.

Con Anima (1965) (meaning "With Soul") achieved 30% above its high estimate at Sotheby's Milan in April 2019. This set of two canvases, measuring 2.2 metres tall, represents Schifano's slight change of style of the mid-1960s, as he began incorporating more explicit landscape elements and gestural marks into his colour-restrictive compositions. The title "Con Anima" - a musical term instructing performers to play "with feeling" - alludes to Schifano's interest in creating emotional resonance through his art. Created during a period when Schifano was increasingly interested in the relationship between painting and photography, this piece was likely created partially by projecting photos onto the canvas - this concern and technique would occupy much of his later career.

Milano (1962) sold at Sotheby's Milan in April 2022, continuing the strong performance of Schifano's early 1960s works. Created in 1962, this striking monochromatic blue painting represents both a specific geographical reference to Italy's industrial capital, where it eventually made its top 10 sale, and Schifano's hypercontextual approach to colour. The reference to Milan comes from its position as Italy's economic powerhouse during the country's post-war industrial boom. Milan represented modernity, commerce, and industrial progress - themes that fascinated Schifano during this period. The almost square format and its use of ‘productive’ materials such as packaging paper and enamel give the work a physical, measured, meditative presence that enhances its conceptual engagement with urban space and industrial production.

Another significant auction result at Sotheby’s Milan, 7 Agosto 1961 (1961) sold in April 2019. The work was created on the date in its title, which provides a rare lack of context for Schifano’s work. Instead, its effect is diaristic, referencing a personal event or simply documenting his day-to-day progress. At the time, Schifano was moving away from his early Monocromi series towards more complex compositions incorporating textual and symbolic elements. August 1961 saw several important historical developments that would have been significant to Schifano, including the construction of the Berlin Wall. Schifano was rapidly gaining international recognition and, in the following year, was included in the groundbreaking New Realists exhibition at New York's Sidney Janis Gallery in 1962, alongside the likes of Christo and Roy Lichtenstein. The work itself, before its 2019 sale, remained in private collections in Rome, being exhibited only twice at the Fondazione Marconi from 1960 to 1964 and in 2005.

Grande Verde (1960) sold at Christie's Paris in October 2023, representing one of Schifano's most historically significant early works. Created in 1960, this large-scale monochrome, measuring 1.5 metres squared, is a foundational example of his breakthrough Monocromi series, which established his reputation in the Italian art scene. The work consists of thirty-five separate sheets of paper with subtle ripples and creases formed by their pasting to canvas, covered with glossy green enamel applied in deliberate, haphazard strokes. The exposed nails at the unpainted border and green paint drips visible at the lower edge reveal Schifano's very tactile approach to the materiality of painting itself - an approach that distinguished his work from both the emotional expressionism of Arte Informale and the conceptual rigour of his Minimalist contemporaries. The piece was shown at the Salone delle Scuderie in Pilotta, Parma, in 1974 in what remains the most important retrospective of Schifano's lifetime.

Ossigeno Ossigeno (1965) (which translates to "Oxygen Oxygen") achieved €200,000 above its high estimate at an online Sotheby's Italy auction in November 2020. This work, overlaid with perspex, combines Schifano’s exploration of the power of flat colour with his engagement with environmental themes and his artistic evolution towards more photographic references. It belongs to what Schifano called his Paesaggio Anemico ("Anaemic Landscape"), a series of works incorporating transparent and chequered sheets of perspex and plexiglas bolted onto canvas. These works, which often incorporated transparent plexiglas elements, represented Schifano's distinctive response to traditional landscape painting, reinterpreting natural scenes through the lens of modern materials and mechanical reproduction.

The final result on this list was achieved by Cleopatra's Dream (1960-61) at Christie’s New York in November 2015 - this sale held Schifano’s record until April 2019, when 7 Agosto 1961 (1961) and Con Anima (1965) exceeded it at the same sale at Sotheby’s Milan. This piece brings our list back to Schifano's early experimentation with geometric abstraction and colour field painting. The evocative title references ancient Egyptian history, alluding to the themes of luxury, power, and exotic allure associated with Cleopatra. It was in Schifano’s most formally reductive period, engaging with both Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism, that he engaged with the broadest examples of cultural symbolism. Its 2015 sale set the stage for the following productive decade, when Schifano’s record was repeatedly broken, set, and broken again.