* Messi portraits sell for over £680,000 *
Sotheby’s London raised £2,663,000 (€3,591,710 / $4,063,050) on Thursday night in a major fundraising auction featuring works of art, including two portraying Lionel Messi, in aid of the ‘1 in 11’ campaign to boost education in South East Asia.
The sale featured 18 artworks donated by renowned western and Middle Eastern contemporary artists, including Takashi Murakami, Damien Hirst, Richard Serra, Wael Shawky and Manal al Dowayan. The top lot of the evening, Jeff Koons’s “Donkey (Yellow)” from 1999, sold for £557,000 from the initial estimate of £500,000-800,000.
Two paintings depicting Lionel Messi by Damien Hirst and Takashi Murakami sold for a combined total of £682,000. Hirst’s “Beautiful Messi Spin Painting For One in Eleven” sold for £365,000 and Murakami’s “Lionel Messi and a Universe of Flowers” sold for £317,000.
Thursday night’s sale kicked off with a bespoke football designed by Murakami and signed by both Lionel Messi and the artist, which soared to £45,000 from the initial estimate of £500-1,000.
“Never has the phrase ‘the beautiful game’ been more apt than this evening, when the worlds of Football and Art collided in Sotheby’s London auction rooms. By harnessing the universal language of sport and art, tonight’s auction provided a powerful platform for the ‘1 in 11’ campaign, drawing bids not only from esteemed art collectors but from sports fans across the world,” said Oliver Barker, Sotheby’s Deputy Chairman, Europe, and Auctioneer.
“All of us involved in the ‘1 in 11’ partnership –FC Barcelona Foundation, Reach Out To Asia and UNICEF – are absolutely thrilled by the amount raised at the auction. Every child, wherever she or he lives, has the right to learn, to play and to grow, and tonight art and football have come together in a unique way to help ensure more children enjoy that right,” added Gérard Bocquenet, Director of Private Fundraising and Partnerships, UNICEF.
Launched earlier this year, ‘1 in 11’ aims to extend education opportunities to marginalised and vulnerable children in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nepal, with the goal of expanding to more countries.
Globally, one in eleven primary school-age children – or 58 mln out of 650 mln children – are out of school. The majority are among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable: children living in areas affected by conflict; in extreme poverty; with disabilities; or from indigenous communities. In addition, in many schools, programmes that support play and sports do not exist, even though studies have shown that including these elements in school curricula can inspire children to attend and stay in school, lead to better physical health, and help to improve their grades.
Lending their voices to ‘1 in 11’, Messi and international tennis champion and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Serena Williams launched the #1in11 campaign film and ‘Keep Ups’ challenge – challenging people to keep a ball up in the air for at least eleven touches.
Through the ‘Keep Ups’ challenge, Messi and Williams are inviting their fans and followers to join, donate to the campaign and share their own ‘Keep Ups’ via social media and at www.1in11.org .
