Cecily Brown
Blue-chip#46
Egon Investment Scores
Liquidity
7/10
How easily works can be bought and sold at auction
Institutional
10/10
Museum collections, biennials, and institutional recognition
Momentum
8/10
Recent price trends, gallery moves, and market buzz
Discovery
2/10
Undervaluation opportunity relative to peer artists
Risk
1/10
Investment risk factors — higher means more volatile
Market Position
- Pricing
- Market Note
- Contact Paula Cooper Gallery, Thomas Dane Gallery, or Gladstone Gallery for current primary market pricing; strong gallery control indicates selective market access
- Works on Paper
- Drawings
- $10,000-$100,000
- Monotypes
- $15,000-$275,000
- Prints Multiples
- $5,000-$50,000
- Paintings Medium
- $500,000-$1,500,000 for strong secondary works
- Paintings Large Scale
- Current Range
- $3,000,000-$10,000,000 for major works (2023-2025)
- Mid Career Works
- $1,000,000-$3,000,000 (2015-2020 works)
- Historical Context
- Pre-2018 range: $400,000-$2,200,000; Post-2018: $1,000,000+
- Liquidity
- Market Access
- Limited primary market access due to gallery waiting lists; secondary market active but selective
- Sell Through Rate
- 67% in recent database (2025); historically 77.5% (2021)
- Geographic Distribution
- Strong markets in New York, London, Hong Kong; appearing in all three major houses' sales
- Annual Transaction Volume
- 12+ auction lots annually at major houses (Christie's, Sotheby's, Phillips)
- Comparables
- Market Peers
- Julie Mehretu ($10.7M record), Jenny Saville, Vija Celmins ($7.7M), Cindy Sherman ($6.8M)
- Stylistic Peers
- John Currin, Lisa Yuskavage (figurative contemporaries); Jenny Saville (female painter market comparisons)
- Historical Influences Market
- Willem de Kooning, Joan Mitchell, Francis Bacon - Brown positioned as feminist revision of male Abstract Expressionism
- Collector Base
- Collector Profile
- Major institutional collectors, established contemporary art collectors, museums acquiring for permanent collections; recent interest from younger, diverse collectors supporting women artists
- Notable Collectors
- The Broad, Los Angeles (Black Painting No. 1, 2002)Rubell MuseumMarguerite Hoffman (Dallas)Cindy and Howard Rachofsky (Dallas)Michael Ovitz (recent abstraction acquisitions including Brown)The Labora CollectionShah Garg CollectionGale Neeson and Stefan Edlis CollectionMo Ostin Collection (Free Games for May)Douglas S. Cramer Collection
- Auction History
- Early Record
- $2,200,000 for 'Sick Leaves' at Christie's, March 2017
- Record Price
- $9,810,000 for 'High Society' (1997-98) at Sotheby's New York, November 18, 2025
- Previous Record
- $6,780,000 for 'Suddenly Last Summer' (1999) at Sotheby's New York, May 2018
- Record Increase
- 44% jump in auction record (November 2025)
- Market Evolution
- Significant appreciation since 2017 when named among ten most expensive living women artists; majority of top 20 sales occurred in past five years
- Recent Major Sales
- High Society (1997-98): $9,810,000 at Sotheby's, November 2025 (exceeded estimate)
- Bedtime Story: $6,221,000 at Christie's, May 2025 (above estimate)
- Free Games for May (2015): €5,107,780 (approximately $5.5M) in 2023
- Spree: Estimated $3-4 million at Sotheby's, November 2021
- Historical Performance 2021
- 31 lots sold, 9 bought in, 77.5% sell-through rate, average sale price $1.1 million, total sales $35.5 million
- Market Position
- Status
- Blue-chip contemporary painter; ranked among top 10 most expensive living female artists
- Hiscox Ranking
- Joined top 10 of Hiscox Artist Top 100 in 2025 (32 women total in top 100)
- Market Segment
- Museum-quality contemporary figurative-abstract painting; intersection of Abstract Expressionism revival and feminist reclamation
- Peer Comparisons
- Grouped with Jenny Saville, Julie Mehretu, Lisa Yuskavage, Marlene Dumas, Vija Celmins as leading female painters at auction
- Institutional vs Market
- Strong institutional validation paired with robust secondary market; works appear regularly in evening sales at major houses
- Investment Outlook
- Risks
- Subject to 'volatile swings' per market analysis - 'one season up, next season out of favor'
- November 2025: One work bought-in at Christie's (It's Not Yesterday Anymore at $3M, estimated $4-6M)
- Market speculation risk around female artists can create price bubbles
- Some critical controversy regarding necessity and depth in early reviews (though Roberta Smith recanted)
- Strengths
- Museum-quality institutional validation across Tier 1 institutions
- Recent auction record jump of 44% demonstrates strong momentum
- Sustained museum exhibition activity (2023-2025 major retrospectives)
- Limited primary market supply creates scarcity value
- Growing market for female artists and historical undervaluation correction
- Strong critical re-evaluation and institutional support
- Trajectory
- Blue-chip trajectory confirmed by recent record; positioned for continued appreciation given museum validation, market correction for female artists, and scarcity
Institutional Presence
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (43 works confirmed via museum API)
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (including Four Letter Heaven, 1995)
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (including Puttin' on the Ritz, 1999-2000)
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
The Broad, Los Angeles (Black Painting No. 1, 2002)
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Brooklyn Museum, New York
Smithsonian Institution (confirmed via API)
Cleveland Museum of Art (confirmed via API)
Dallas Museum of Art
Glenstone Museum, Maryland
- Exhibitions
- Solo Museum Shows
Dates Venue Exhibition — — Cecily Brown: Themes and Variations 2023 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Cecily Brown: Death and the Maid 2023 Museo Novecento, Florence Cecily Brown: Temptations, Torments, Trials and Tribulations 2022 Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich Cecily Brown 2022 Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples The Triumph of Death 2020-2021 Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, UK Cecily Brown 2018 Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark Where, When, How Often and with Whom 2018-2019 Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo; Museo Oscar Niemeyer, Curitiba, Brazil If Paradise Were Half as Nice 2018 Metropolitan Opera House, New York Triumph of the Vanities II 2016 The Drawing Center, New York Cecily Brown: Rehearsal 2014 Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Turin Cecily Brown 2012 Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg, Austria Cecily Brown 2010 Kestner Gesellschaft, Hannover; GEM Museum, The Hague Based on a True Story 2009 Deichtorhallen, Hamburg Cecily Brown 2006-2007 Des Moines Art Center; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Cecily Brown 2005 Kunsthalle Mannheim, Germany; Modern Art Oxford, UK Cecily Brown: Paintings 2004 Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid Cecily Brown 2002 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C. Directions - Cecily Brown - Exhibition Frequency
- Consistent major museum solo exhibitions every 1-2 years since 2002; intensified activity 2022-2025
- Major Group Exhibitions
- Whitney Biennial (2004)
- All Too Human: Bacon, Freud and a Century of Painting Life, Tate Britain (2018)
- Radical Figures: Painting in the New Millennium, Whitechapel Gallery, London (2020)
- Forever Now: Contemporary Painting in an Atemporal World, MoMA, New York (2014-2015)
- Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London (1997) - not included but contemporary
- Greater New York: New Art in New York Now, P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center (2000)
- Publications
- Monographs
- Courtney J. Martin, Jason Rosenfeld, and Francine Prose, 'Cecily Brown', Phaidon Press, 2020 (first major monograph)
- Ealan Wingate, ed., 'Cecily Brown', Rizzoli, 2008
- Dore Ashton, 'Cecily Brown', Rizzoli, 2008
- Jeff Fleming, 'Cecily Brown', Des Moines Art Center, 2007
- Critical Essays
- Extensive coverage in Artforum (Barry Schwabsky, David Rimanelli, Rachel Churner), Flash Art, Art in America, Vogue, The New York Times
- Exhibition Catalogues
- 'Cecily Brown: Themes and Variations', Dallas Museum of Art/Barnes Foundation, 2024-2025
- 'Cecily Brown: Where, When, How Often and with Whom', Louisiana Museum, 2018-19
- 'Cecily Brown: Paintings', Modern Art Oxford, 2005
- Museum Collections
- Note
- Exceptionally strong Tier 1 representation across US and European institutions; holdings span career from 1995 to present
- Tier 1 US
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (43 works confirmed via museum API)Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York (including Four Letter Heaven, 1995)Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (including Puttin' on the Ritz, 1999-2000)Whitney Museum of American Art, New YorkHirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.The Broad, Los Angeles (Black Painting No. 1, 2002)National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.Brooklyn Museum, New YorkSmithsonian Institution (confirmed via API)Cleveland Museum of Art (confirmed via API)Dallas Museum of ArtGlenstone Museum, Maryland
- Tier 1 International
- Tate Modern/Tate Gallery, LondonCentre Pompidou, ParisLouisiana Museum of Modern Art, DenmarkMuseum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, GermanyMuseo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, MadridPinakothek der Moderne, MunichAlbertina Museum, Vienna
- Additional Institutions
- British MuseumMuseum der Moderne Salzburg, AustriaEssl Museum, AustriaNational Gallery of Norway, OsloRubell Museum, Miami/Washington D.C.Des Moines Art CenterMuseo Oscar Niemeyer, Brazil
- Awards and Recognition
- Honors
- Named among ten most expensive living women artists by Artnet (2017)Board member, Foundation for Contemporary Arts (since 2014)Featured in Hiscox Artist Top 100 (2025)Vanity Fair photo spread (February 2000)New Yorker photo spread (2000)
- Critical Milestones
- Roberta Smith's 'I Was Wrong About Cecily Brown' (New York Times) - major critical re-evaluation
- Grouped with leading contemporary female artists by NY Times (2000)
- Breakthrough 'Spectacle' exhibition at Deitch Projects (1997)
Career & Biography
- Identity
- Personal
- Married to architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff; one daughter
- Full Name
- Cecily Brown
- Birth Year
- 1969
- Birth Place
- London, England
- Nationality
- British
- Current Location
- New York, NY
- Family Background
- Daughter of novelist Shena Mackay and influential art critic David Sylvester
- Education
- Mentors
- Studied under painter Maggi Hambling
- Institutions
- Epsom School of Art, Surrey, England (1985-87) - B-TEC Diploma in Art and DesignSlade School of Fine Art, London - BA in Fine Arts (1993)Exchange semester in New York (1992)
- Career Timeline
- 1992
- Six-month exchange program in New York from Slade
- 1993
- Graduated from Slade School of Fine Art
- 1994
- Permanently relocated to New York, distancing herself from Young British Artists movement
- 1997
- Breakthrough solo show 'Spectacle' at Deitch Projects, featuring orgiastic rabbit paintings
- 2000
- Featured in photo spread in New Yorker magazine and grouped with leading female contemporary artists (Sue Williams, Lisa Yuskavage) by New York Times; first solo exhibition with Gagosian Gallery
- 2002
- Solo exhibition at Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
- 2004
- Participated in Whitney Biennial; solo exhibition at Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid
- 2014
- Appointed to board of directors of Foundation for Contemporary Arts
- 2015
- Left Gagosian after 15 years; joined Paula Cooper Gallery (New York) and Thomas Dane Gallery (London)
- 2018
- Major exhibition at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark
- 2023
- First full-fledged museum survey in New York: 'Death and the Maid' at Metropolitan Museum of Art
- 2006-2007
- Mid-career retrospective at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- 2024-2025
- 'Themes and Variations' major retrospective at Dallas Museum of Art and Barnes Foundation
- Artistic Philosophy
- Describes painting as 'a kind of alchemy' where paint transforms into image, creating a 'third and new thing'; interested in 'where the mind goes when it's trying to make up for what isn't there'; works using non-linear approach with multiple canvases simultaneously
Artistic Profile
- Style
- Palette
- Initially luscious reds and fleshy pinks; later expanded to greens, greys, yellows; rich saturated colors; chromatic range from bright hues to deep blacks
- Brushwork
- Gestural, vigorous, tactile; heavy application of paint; sweeping strokes; varied between dense clusters and open atmospheric passages
- Composition
- Kaleidoscopic, fragmented; figures emerging and dissolving within turbulent fields of color; crowded with stylistically diverse anonymous figures
- Surface Treatment
- Polished varnish surfaces contrasted with gestural handling; material ballet of paint states; juicy, impassioned, impetuous application
- Signature Approach
- Work oscillates between abstract and figurative modes; paint in continual flux between liquid and solid, transparent and opaque states; 'messy control' and audacious execution
- Evolution
- 1995-1997
- Rabbit paintings; orgiastic scenes; breakthrough 'Spectacle' show
- 1998-2005
- Large-scale figurative works with explicit sexuality; pink and red palette; High Society and contemporaneous works
- 2006-2015
- Increased complexity and layering; landscape paintings; shipwreck series; 'Neurotic paintings' / 'English Garden' small works exploring self-control
- 2016-2020
- Major works oscillating between dense figuration and open abstraction; continued Old Master engagement
- 2021-2025
- Still life tradition; The Five Senses series; mortality themes; singular female nudes with agency; darker tones and vanitas
- Influences
- Old Masters
- Peter Paul RubensPaolo VeroneseNicolas PoussinFrancisco GoyaEdgar DegasÉdouard ManetWilliam HogarthJan Brueghel the ElderPiero della Francesca
- Pop Culture
- Film titles (High Society, The Girl Who Had Everything, etc.); musicals; pornography; contemporary visual culture
- Literary Influences
- Mary Webb's 'Precious Bane' (1924)Édouard Manet's 'Nana'Richard Dadd's 'The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke'
- 20th Century Figurative
- Francis BaconLucian FreudOtto DixGeorge Grosz
- Abstract Expressionists
- Willem de Kooning (primary influence)Joan MitchellArshile GorkyJackson Pollock (implied)
- Visual Language
- Erotic Energy
- Work described as alive with erotic energy; tension within painting as desired outcome; sensuality embedded in material handling
- Art Historical Dialogue
- Constant conversation with Western painting tradition; appropriates and subverts historical sources; palimpsest construction
- Figuration Abstraction Balance
- Tightrope between abstraction and representation; spectral figures sliding into and out of focus; meanings found and instantly lost; 'just-elusive shorthand'
- Themes and Subjects
- Early Work 1990s
- Hedonistic rabbits in orgiastic scenes; semi-abstracted couples mid-coitus; explicit sexual imagery
- Mid Career 2000s
- Shift toward greater layering and fragmentation; increased references to Old Master paintings; figures, landscapes, mythological scenes emerging and dissolving
- Recurring Motifs
- Sexuality and eroticism (explicit and implied)The nude (individual and ensemble)Still life and vanitas traditionLandscape and shipwrecksGarden scenes and huntsInterior spaces and domestic settingsMortality, transience, memento mori
- Recent Work 2020s
- Darker tone meditating on mortality (Death and the Maid); still life tradition; emphasis on The Five Senses; singular female nudes with agency
- Movements and Periods
- Classification
- Contemporary figurative-abstract painter; Neo-Abstract Expressionism; Feminist revisionist painting
- Relationship to Movements
- Distanced herself from Young British Artists (YBAs) despite being contemporary; aligned with return to painting in 1990s New York; positioned between figuration and abstraction traditions
- Techniques and Mediums
- Scale
- Known for large-scale canvases (up to 33 feet long); also works at intimate scales
- Process
- Non-linear approach working on multiple canvases simultaneously (up to 20 at once); organic process allowing layers to dry between applications; continual spontaneity
- Primary Medium
- Oil on linen/canvas
- Additional Media
- Works on paper: watercolor, pastel, ink, colored pencilMonotypes in oil paint (major body of work since 2002 with Two Palms)EtchingsUV-curable pigment on linen (recent works)
Critical Reception
- Critical Reception
- Debate Points
- Question of whether work is overtly feminist or simply female perspective on traditionally male genre
- Tension between critical acclaim and accusations of style over substance
- Discussion of appropriation vs. homage regarding historical sources
- Debate over illustrational vs. conceptual qualities
- Early Reception
- Roberta Smith, New York Times (2000): Initially called Gagosian exhibition 'lackluster' and suggested 'career is ahead of her artistic development'
- Smith later wrote 'I Was Wrong About Cecily Brown' - major critical reversal
- Adrian Searle, The Guardian (2011): Criticized work as lacking 'character' and 'sense of necessity'
- Leah Ollman, LA Times (2013): 'Instead of powerful and passionate, her voice comes across as detached. The volume is turned up, but the verve is on low.'
- Feminist Discourse
- Positioned as feminist redux of Willem de Kooning's Abstract Expressionism
- Characterized as challenging masculine undertones of Abstract Expressionism
- Work explores power imbalances in voyeurism and sexual violence
- Reclaims and redefines female subjects within art historical canon
- Mature Critical Consensus
- Barry Schwabsky (Artforum): Praised mature work, compared favorably to Joan Mitchell lineage
- David Rimanelli (Artforum 2023): 'What's interesting about Cecily Brown is how from the very start her work gets positioned as a way to talk about what's good or bad in painting'
- Rachel Churner (Artforum): Noted delivery of 'everything we expect from the artist: sex, violence, prurient gestural marks, and bursts of garish color'
- Georg Imdahl (Artforum 2025, Barnes review): 'Brown paints with gusto, and her intricately conceived compositions—mostly tight, though on occasion surprisingly airy—are skillfully laid out'
- Publications and Media
- Major Profiles
- Vogue (multiple features: 2008, 2013, 2015, 2025)New Yorker (photo feature 2000; reviews 2008)New York Times (extensive coverage including Smith's recantation)Apollo Magazine interview (2018)W Magazine studio visit (2016)Vanity Fair profile (2000)
- Media Appearances
- Positioned as glamorous artist figure - fashion magazine photo shoots
- Known for paint-splattered clothes, barefoot studio work, cigarette aesthetic
- Featured in discussions of market economics and contemporary art valuation
- Scholarly Attention
- Artforum (regular coverage since 2000)
- Flash Art (Nicola Trezzi, Odili Donald Odita essays)
- Art in America (multiple reviews)
- Eleanor Heartney et al., 'The Reckoning: Women Artists in the New Millennium' (2013)
- Don Thompson, 'The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art' (2008)
Gallery & Representation
- Fair Presence
- Market Strategy
- Selective primary market placement with waiting lists; gallery-controlled distribution to prevent flipping
- Documented Activity
- Art Basel Miami Beach (2019 - Faeriefeller scandal with Paula Cooper Gallery)Art Basel (regular exhibitor through gallery partners)Frieze (through gallery representation)
- Representation
- Print Publisher
- Two Palms Press (since 2002) - monotypes and etchings
- Primary Galleries
Name Location Recent Shows Since Tier Paula Cooper Gallery New York The 5 Senses (October-December 2024), Bathers, Palm Beach (March-April 2023), Solo show October-December 2020 2015 Tier 1 Thomas Dane Gallery London — 2015 Tier 1 Gladstone Gallery — Nana and other stories, Seoul (April-June 2024) — Tier 1 - Former Representation
Name Period Significance Gagosian 2000-2015 (15 years) Major career development with blue-chip gallery; numerous solo shows in New York, London, Beverly Hills, Paris, Rome Deitch Projects 1990s Breakthrough 'Spectacle' show (1997)
- Geographic Reach
- Primary Markets
- New York, London
- Secondary Markets
- Seoul, Brussels, Los Angeles, Hong Kong
- Exhibition History
- US, UK, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Brazil, Austria, Spain, France, South Korea
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