Rabbit (Koons)

An artist named Jeff Koons made this art. It is a shiny metal rabbit. It is made of steel.

He made three of them. They all look the same.

One rabbit is in a museum in Chicago. You can see it there.

Another rabbit is in Los Angeles. It is in a big museum too.

People pay a lot of money for this art. One sold for a very high price. It was a record for a living artist.

Jeff Koons made a famous art piece called Rabbit. It is a shiny sculpture made of stainless steel. He made three of these identical pieces in 1986. One rabbit is at a museum in Chicago. You can see it there today. Another rabbit is at The Broad in Los Angeles. It is part of their permanent collection. People pay a lot of money for this art. In May 2019, one rabbit sold for $91.1 million. This was a record for art made by a living artist. A man named Steven A. Cohen bought that piece. An art dealer named Robert Mnuchin helped with the sale. Earlier, the art cost much less. In the first sales, two rabbits cost $40,000 each. One went to Charles Saatchi. The other went to a painter named Terry Winters. Later, the price went up to $1 million. An art dealer named Larry Gagosian helped with that deal. He said it was his favorite deal ever. He even wished he could have bought it himself. The art world finds these pieces very special.

Jeff Koons made a famous art series called Rabbit. These are three identical sculptures. They are made of shiny stainless steel. This material makes the art look very bright. People find these pieces very special and important. They are some of the most famous sculptures today. Many people love to look at them.

Each sculpture is a shiny metal rabbit. The artist made three of them in 1986. There is also one extra called an artist's proof. This means the artist made a special version. The sculptures look exactly the same. They are smooth and reflect the light around them. This makes the art feel very modern.

History shows how much the value of this art grew. At first, two rabbits sold for $40,000 each. One went to Charles Saatchi. The other went to a painter named Terry Winters. Later, one piece sold for $945,000 to Stefan Edlis. Another piece sold for $1 million to S. I. Newhouse. An art dealer named Larry Gagosian helped with that deal. He said it was his favorite transaction ever.

In May 2019, one rabbit set a huge record. It sold at auction for $91.1 million. This was the highest price for art by a living artist. The estate of S. I. Newhouse sold it. An art dealer named Robert Mnuchin bought it for Steven A. Cohen. This was the last piece held by private owners. It was a very big moment for the art world.

You can see these rabbits in special places today. One rabbit is at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Stefan Edlis gave it as a partial donation there. Another rabbit is at The Broad in Los Angeles. It is part of their permanent collection. You can visit these museums to see the art. They show how much people value Jeff Koons's work.

Rabbit is a famous series of sculptures created by the artist Jeff Koons. This series was first made in 1986. The artwork consists of three identical sculptures. There is also one additional version known as an artist's proof. These pieces are made from stainless steel. Stainless steel is a strong metal that is very shiny. The smooth surface of the metal reflects the world around it. This makes the sculptures look bright and modern. People around the world view these works as very important pieces of contemporary art.

To understand these sculptures, one must look at how they are constructed. Each piece is a representation of a rabbit. The artist used stainless steel to create the form. This specific material allows the sculpture to have a highly reflective surface. When light hits the metal, it bounces off the smooth sides. This creates a visual effect where the rabbit seems to change with its surroundings. The identical nature of the three editions means each one carries the same visual weight. The use of metal gives the animal a hard and permanent feeling.

There are three main editions of the Rabbit series. Each edition is meant to be exactly the same as the others. In addition to these three, Koons produced an artist's proof. An artist's proof is a special version made by the creator. These editions are distributed to different collectors and museums over many years. Because they are identical, each one represents the same artistic vision. The series is categorized as 1986 sculptures. It is also grouped with other animal sculptures and stainless steel works.

The history of these sculptures shows how much art values can change. Initially, the art dealer Ileana Sonnabend kept one edition for herself. She sold the other two editions for $40,000 each. One buyer was the advertising magnate Charles Saatchi. The other buyer was the painter Terry Winters. These early prices were much lower than what the art is worth today. The movement of these pieces between collectors shows how the art market functions. Over time, the demand for Koons's work caused the prices to rise significantly.

Specific numbers show the massive growth in the value of Rabbit. In 1991, Charles Saatchi sold his piece to Stefan Edlis for $945,000. Around that same time, Larry Gagosian helped broker a deal for the other piece. Terry Winters sold her edition to S. I. Newhouse for $1 million. Gagosian later called this his favorite transaction in his career. In October 2007, the heirs of Ileana Sonnabend sold her edition. They sold it as part of a larger package of artworks for $400 million. This package was bought by GPS Partners for a group of collectors. This group included Carlos Slim, Sammy Ofer, François Pinault, and the Al Thani family from Qatar.

A major milestone occurred in May 2019 during an auction. One edition of Rabbit was sold for $91.1 million. This sale broke the auction record for any artwork made by a living artist. The piece was sold by the estate of the late publisher S. I. Newhouse. The art dealer Robert Mnuchin purchased the sculpture. He bought it on behalf of the billionaire hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen. This specific sale was very important because it was the last Rabbit held in private hands. It proved that the market for living artists could reach incredible heights.

Today, these sculptures are located in important public and private collections. You can find one edition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. This piece was given to the museum as a partial donation by Stefan Edlis. Another edition is held in the permanent collection of The Broad in Los Angeles. This museum displays the sculpture as part of its collection of works by Jeff Koons. These locations allow the public to see the shiny metal rabbits in person. The presence of these works in museums helps cement their place in art history.