Artist Jeff Koons on top of one of his unfinished ‘Balloon Dog’ sculptures.
Since his rise to fame in the mid-1980s, Jeff Koons has firmly established himself as one of the most popular and controversial artists of our time. He is lauded by some as a daring pioneer of contemporary art, but his work is disparaged by others as being shallow, crass, and banal.
Nevertheless, he’s one of the most successful artists alive today. Koons is probably best known for his large stainless steel sculptures and installation pieces, but he has also created a number of prints. Though prints only account for 12% of his work sold at auction, they usually fetch between £1,000 and £5,000, and a significant number reach as high as £50,000.
Below is a list of the six most sought-after Jeff Koons prints. If you own a Jeff Koons print and would like to find out more about how much it may be worth, or how to sell it, get in touch with Mark Littler today.
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Wolfman
Wolfman was sold by Christie’s in November 2002 for £182,468. It is part of Jeff Koons’ iconic and highly controversial Made in Heaven series, which featured the artist alongside the Italian porn star known as La Cicciolina, who would later become his wife. The series of photographs, prints, paintings, and sculptures shows the couple in various explicit sexual poses, often referencing Baroque and Rococo art in the elaborate backdrops and ornate outfits worn by La Cicciolina.
The series received mixed reactions and sparked questions about the nature of art and its role in society. To some, Made in Heaven daringly broke taboos and courageously challenged preconceived notions about art, though to others it was simply crass and devoid of any artistic content. Koons remained calmly aloof throughout, stating: “I had to go to the depths of my own sexuality, my own morality, to be able to remove fear, guilt and shame from myself. All of this has been removed from the viewer.”
Wolfman (Censored) sold by Christie’s in 2002
Dirty Ejaculation
This is another print from the Made in Heaven series, and it was sold by Sotheby’s in May 2024 for £95,353. One of the reasons prints from the series are so sought-after is that Koons destroyed many of the pieces after his marriage with Ilona Staller broke down. The couple separated soon after the birth of their son, Ludwig, and a bitter, expensive custody battle ensued for many years afterwards.
By exploring the boundaries between fine art and pornography, Koons enthusiasts claim he forced the art world to reassess its deeply-embedded values and beliefs, though many believe Made in Heaven simply relies on its shock value, and does not contain anything of real artistic merit.
Dirty Ejaculation (Censored) sold by Sotheby’s in 2024
The Williams
This print is part of Jeff Koons’ Equilibrium series, which was centred around inflatable objects (especially basketballs) and explored themes of life, death, and social mobility. The series was created for the artist’s debut solo gallery exhibition held in 1985, and it resulted in some of Koons’ most iconic artworks, including his basketballs suspended in aquarium-like glass tanks.
Alongside the sculptural pieces, Koons’ series also contained a number of framed Nike posters advertising sports shoes, including this one, which was sold by Sotheby’s in November 2014 for £94,560. According to Koons and his admirers, the act of removing the posters from their original contexts and redefining them as art immediately raises questions about consumer culture, American society, and the seductive nature of advertising.
The Williams sold by Sotheby’s in 2014
Board Room
This print also comes from Koons’ Equilibrium series, and it was sold by Christie’s in May 2011 for £73,308. Just like The Williams, Board Room is a Nike poster that was framed by Koons and designated as art. This decontextualisation of an already-existing object owes much to the ideas and ‘readymades’ of Marcel Duchamp, an artist Koons has long-admired, and whose art he immersed himself in whilst working at MoMA.
The Board Room sold by Christie’s in 2011
I Assume You Drink Martell
This print dates from 1986, and it was sold by Christie’s in November 2022 for £44,163. The print comes from Koons’ Luxury and Degradation series, which was centred around alcohol and the way it is marketed by large corporations. Just like Equilibrium, Luxury and Degradation appropriated many readymade advertising posters. This resulted in a lawsuit in 2015, when the original photographer of a Gordon’s gin advert claimed Koons had used his image without permission.
Luxury and Degradation apparently began when Koons realised that liquor adverts targeting people with higher incomes were much more abstract than those targeting people with lower incomes. He believes that by having the images from the adverts made into paintings, he “was telling people not to give up their economic power – that this pursuit of luxury was a form of degradation and not to get debased by it but to maintain their economic power.”
I Assume Your Drink Martell sold by Christie’s in 2022
Gazing Ball (da Vinci Mona Lisa)
For his Gazing Ball series, Koons had his small army of assistants replicate famous paintings and sculptures. Then, a hand-blown mirrored blue glass ball was affixed to the artworks. The idea was simple: when the viewer looked at the piece, they would also see their own self and their surroundings reflected back at them.
Koons quickly expanded the series to include prints, using blue spheres to represent the gazing balls of the originals. This particular print, featuring da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, was sold by Christie’s in October 2021 for £36,350. Some might question why anybody would wish to view Koons’ series when they could see the real masterpieces in their full glory, unadulterated by shiny blue balls. Koons’ firm belief on the subject, however, is that the series is “not about copying,” but rather it “represents the vastness of the universe and at the same time the intimacy of right here, right now.”
Gazing Ball (da Vinci Mona Lisa) sold by Christie’s in 2021
