{"id":2044007,"date":"2025-09-23T16:12:39","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T16:12:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2044007"},"modified":"2025-09-23T16:12:39","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T16:12:39","slug":"david-bowies-aladdin-sane-artwork-set-to-break-auction-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/david-bowies-aladdin-sane-artwork-set-to-break-auction-record\/","title":{"rendered":"David Bowie\u2019s \u2018Aladdin Sane\u2019 artwork set to break auction record"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

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When you think of the late David Bowie<\/strong><\/a>, what image pops up into your head?<\/p>\n

Chances are you\u2019re thinking about the ethereal portrait of the singer with\u00a0a red bush of hair,\u00a0eyes closed, and sporting the red-and-blue lightning bolt across his face \u2013 and no one would blame you.<\/p>\n

This photo, taken by Brian Duffy, was on the front of Bowie\u2019s sixth album, 1973\u2019s ‘Aladdin Sane’. It remains one of the most enduring images of the singer’s career and possibly the most famous album photo\u00a0in music history – also making makeup artist Pierre Laroche\u2019s lightning bolt the most recognizable symbol in rock.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/span><\/div>\n

The original dye transfer print artwork for the ‘Aladdin Sane’ album cover <\/span> – Duffy Archive & the David Bowie Archive\/Bonhams <\/span><\/p>\n

Bowie\u2019s manager Tony Defries wanted the label RCA to spend huge amounts on the cover – especially after the worldwide success of Bowie’s previous album, 1972’s ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’. He insisted on a seven-colour printing system over the traditional four, leading to the album cover\u2019s unique visual brilliance. At the time, it was the most expensive cover art ever made.<\/p>\n

The image has endured for decades, and when Bowie died in 2016<\/strong><\/a>, the majority of the murals popping up around the world were of the \u2018Aladdin Sane\u2019 cover.<\/p>\n

\"Mural<\/span><\/div>\n

Mural of David Bowie by artist Jimmy C in Brixton, south London – Monday 11 January 2016 <\/span> – AP Photo <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy father\u2019s image of Bowie is often called the Mona Lisa of Pop,\u201d said Chris Duffy, son of\u00a0Brian Duffy and the Founder and Managing Director of the Duffy Archive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to remember it was the result of a short studio shoot using film, which then had to be sent out for commercial processing. There were no instant digital images or photoshop then. It\u2019s extraordinary how it\u2019s lasted and been endlessly reworked. Wherever I go in the world, it\u2019s always somewhere on a t-shirt.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tributes<\/span><\/div>\n

Tributes lie beside a mural of David Bowie – London, 12 January 2016 <\/span> – AP Photo <\/span><\/p>\n

Now, a look back at Brian Duffy\u2019s work, titled “The Mona Lisa of Pop: The Duffy Archive”, will put the famous image on display, alongside 34 other items from the Duffy archive.<\/p>\n

The exhibition opens on 22 October in Bonhams auction house in London, UK, and will lead to the items – including the iconic\u00a0\u2018Aladdin Sane\u2019 artwork – going up for sale.<\/p>\n

The original album artwork is estimated at \u00a3250,000 to \u00a3300,000 (approx. \u20ac286,000-\u20ac344,000) which means it\u00a0could become the most expensive album artwork ever sold \u2013 on track to beat the record set by Led Zeppelin\u2019s debut album artwork, which sold for\u00a0$325,000 (\u20ac275,400) in 2020, and definitely overlapping Elton John\u2019s \u2018Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy\u2019 original artwork, which made $212,500 (\u20ac180,000) last year.<\/p>\n

For reference, it may have a harder time beating the record for the most expensive album ever sold \u2013 Beatle Ringo Starr’s serial numbered No.0000001 copy of ‘The White Album’, which sold for a record-breaking $790,000 (\u20ac729,000) in 2015.<\/p>\n

Still, we\u2019re talking artwork rather than albums, so the ‘Aladdin Sane’ image could still set its very own benchmark.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/span><\/div>\n

The original ‘Aladdin Sane’ dye transfer for the 1973 album\u2019s inside cover <\/span> – Duffy Archive & the David Bowie Archive\/Bonhams <\/span><\/p>\n

The lot heading to Bonhams also includes the stool Bowie sat on for the Aladdin Sane shoot, as well as the full-length centrefold image of Bowie as Aladdin Sane that\u00a0is also on the auction block with an estimate of \u00a3150,000 to \u00a3200,000 (\u20ac172,000 – \u20ac229,000).<\/p>\n

The Duffy archive previously loaned ‘Aladdin Sane’\u00a0artwork to the V&A for the world-touring “David Bowie Is” exhibition, which opened in 2013 and ended in 2018.<\/p>\n

Over its five-year run, it stopped at 12 museums around the world and became the V&A\u2019s most visited international touring show in its 165-year history, attracting more than two million visitors.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the\u00a0V&A East Storehouse in London opened a new Bowie archive<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The David Bowie Centre opened to the public on 13 September.\u00a0“The Mona Lisa of Pop: The Duffy Archive” will be on view in a free exhibition at Bonhams New Bond Street running from 22 October \u2013 5 November.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you think of the late David Bowie, what image pops up into your head? Chances are you\u2019re thinking about the ethereal portrait of the singer with\u00a0a red bush of hair,\u00a0eyes closed, and sporting the red-and-blue lightning bolt across his face \u2013 and no one would blame you. This photo, taken by Brian Duffy, was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2044008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[378636,332494,378637,378638,305313,378639],"class_list":["post-2044007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-aladdin-sane","tag-album-cover","tag-brian-duffy","tag-chris-duffy","tag-david-bowie","tag-duffy-archive"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/David-Bowies-\u2018Aladdin-Sane-artwork-set-to-break-auction-record.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2044007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2044007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2044008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2044007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2044007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2044007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}