Vija Celmins
Blue-chip#76
Egon Investment Scores
Liquidity
5/10
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
4/10
Undervaluation opportunity relative to peer artists
Risk
1/10
Investment risk factors — higher means more volatile
Market Position
- Pricing
- Unique Works
- Notes
- Primary market pricing controlled by Matthew Marks Gallery. Works rarely available; dealer carefully places work to avoid speculation. Museum curators report 30-year difficulty acquiring works due to limited supply.
- Prints Multiples 2024 2025
- Notes
- Consistent demand for prints, particularly ocean, night sky, and web motifs
- Range
- $500-$30,000
- Average
- $24,025 USD (past 12 months)
- Paintings Drawings Historical
- Low
- $225 USD (minor works)
- High
- $7,748,000 USD (Untitled Ocean, 2021)
- Notes
- Most valuable period: 1960s paintings and 1980s works. Six of top 10 sales are from 1960s.
- Mid Range
- $40,000-$500,000 for quality works
- Collector Base
- Major Collectors
- Henry KravisJ. Tomilson HillMitchell and Emily RalesEdward R. Broida (donated 17 works to MoMA in 2005, valued at $50 million)Agnes Gund
- Collector Profile
- Described as 'lofty collector base' and 'niche artist' - sophisticated collectors who value meticulous craftsmanship and conceptual depth
- Corporate Collections
- JPMorgan Chase & Co.Cartier Foundation
- Auction History
- Year
- 1983
- Notes
- Previous record was $4,212,500 for Lead Sea #2 (1969) sold in 2017
- Title
- Untitled (Ocean)
- Price USD
- $7,748,000
- Sale Date
- 2021
- Auction House
- Phillips New York
- Supply Dynamics
- Availability
- Extremely limited; longtime dealer Renee McKee: 'It was always as difficult to get her to release her work as it was to get her to raise her prices.'
- Total Output
- Only around 220 paintings, drawings, and sculptures over entire career (noted in Fondation Beyeler 2025 catalogue)
- Speculation Resistance
- Matthew Marks (current dealer since 2015) carefully places work to avoid speculation
- Market Trajectory
- 2017 2021
- Auction record increased from $4.2M to $7.7M (17% increase)
- Liquidity
- Low volume but high demand; works difficult to acquire privately or at auction
- Market Depth
- 184 auction lots historically; limited annual volume due to careful gallery control
- 2024 Activity
- 38 works sold at auction; 22 above high estimate, 2 below low estimate, 3 failed to sell
- Recent Auction Results 2024 2025
Work Date Result Ocean Surface, Second State, 1985 January 2025 Sold Concentric Bearings A (G. 3096, R. 16), 1984 December 2024 Sold Six Prints by the Artist, 2016 October 2024 Sold Untitled (Web 1), from The MOCA Portfolio, 2001 October 2024 Multiple sales Desert (from Untitled Portfolio), 1975 September 2024 Sold
- Market Position
- Market Positioning
- Market Segment
- Blue-chip contemporary; described as commanding 'similar prices' to Koons, Richter, Hockney but with lower name recognition
- Peer Comparisons
- Compared to Gerhard Richter (photorealism, ocean surfaces)Chuck Close (painstaking detail, process-based)Ed Ruscha (LA contemporary)Jasper Johns (influence)
- Market Characterization
- 2019 Bloomberg: 'I've always thought of Vija as a niche artist' - elite collector base despite seven-figure results
Institutional Presence
- Exhibitions
Title Year Dates Venue Location Significance Vija Celmins 2025 June 15 - September 21, 2025 Fondation Beyeler Basel/Riehen, Switzerland Most significant European presentation in almost 20 years; ~90 works including new 'Snowfall' paintings Winter 2024 October 2024 - February 2026 Matthew Marks Gallery New York First exhibition of new work in six years; 9 paintings, 5 sculptures, 1 print including largest painting ever made (Snowfall blue, 8.5 feet tall) To Fix the Image in Memory 2019-2020 September 24, 2019 - January 12, 2020 Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met Breuer) New York Major retrospective, ~120 works To Fix the Image in Memory 2018-2019 December 15, 2018 - March 31, 2019 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art San Francisco Co-organized with Met; first major North American retrospective in 25 years; ~140 works To Fix the Image in Memory 2019 May 4 - August 5, 2019 Art Gallery of Ontario Toronto Tour stop — 2017 2017 Matthew Marks Gallery New York First show in seven years; reminded market of her importance Television and Disaster (1964-1966) 2010 2010 Menil Collection (with LACMA) Houston Retrospective of early work Desert, Sea, and Stars 2011 2011 Museum Ludwig Cologne — The Prints of Vija Celmins 2002 2002 Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Prints retrospective Mid-career retrospective 1992-1994 1992-1994 Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia First major retrospective; toured to Henry Art Gallery (Seattle), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Whitney (NYC), MOCA (LA) A Survey Exhibition 1979 1979 Newport Harbor Art Museum Newport Beach, CA First retrospective; toured to Chicago, New York, Washington DC - Museum Collections
- Notes
- Extraordinary institutional validation: Tier 1 museums worldwide (MoMA, Met, Tate, Centre Pompidou, LACMA, Whitney, Art Institute Chicago, SFMOMA). Over 40 solo exhibitions since 1965. Multiple major retrospectives. ARTIST ROOMS touring collection. Works acquired by top museums despite limited availability.
- Museum Collections Tier 1
Works Institution Location Exhibitions 55 works online including To Fix the Image in Memory (1977-82, 11 bronze stones) Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York — Multiple works; 2020 retrospective Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Major retrospective 'To Fix the Image in Memory' (2019-2020) Permanent collection Whitney Museum of American Art New York 1992-1994 retrospective tour 34 works on paper in ARTIST ROOMS collection including Web #1 Tate (Britain/Modern) London — Permanent collection Centre Pompidou Paris Major retrospective Multiple works including Blackboard Tableau #1 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) San Francisco 2018-2019 'To Fix the Image in Memory' retrospective (co-organized with Met) Permanent collection (verified via museum API: multiple works) Art Institute of Chicago Chicago — Permanent collection Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Los Angeles Major retrospective; 2010 Menil Collection collaboration Multiple works including Pencil (1966), Tulip Car #1 (1966) National Gallery of Art Washington, D.C. — - Museum Collections Tier 2
Works Institution Location Verified via museum API; Untitled (Double Moon Surface) (1969) Smithsonian Institution (Hirshhorn) Washington, D.C. Untitled (Ocean) (1969) Philadelphia Museum of Art Philadelphia Verified via museum API Cleveland Museum of Art Cleveland Permanent collection Walker Art Center Minneapolis Permanent collection; 2022 Joan Didion exhibition Hammer Museum Los Angeles (UCLA) Permanent collection; 2010 retrospective of 1964-1966 work Menil Collection Houston Untitled (Cassiopeia) (1973) Baltimore Museum of Art Baltimore 34 works in ARTIST ROOMS (joint with Tate) National Galleries of Scotland Scotland 2011 'Desert, Sea, and Stars' exhibition Museum Ludwig Cologne, Germany 2014 'Double Reality' exhibition Latvian National Art Museum Riga, Latvia - Biennial Fair Participation
Notes Event Regular gallery representation at major fairs Art Basel Hundreds of group exhibitions since 1965 Various museum group exhibitions
Career & Biography
- Career
Period Event 1938 Born in Riga, Latvia 1944 Family fled Soviet occupation to Nazi Germany during WWII 1948 Family relocated to Indianapolis by Church World Service; began drawing as language barrier coping mechanism 1955-1962 Studied at John Herron School of Art, regularly visited New York to see Abstract Expressionists 1961 Yale Summer Session; befriended Chuck Close and Brice Marden 1962-1965 UCLA MFA; moved to Venice Beach, Los Angeles 1964-1968 Early period: Pop-influenced paintings of studio objects, war imagery (planes, guns) 1965-1972 Taught at California State College, LA and UC Irvine 1968-1992 Abandoned painting for graphite drawings; focused on ocean surfaces, moon, deserts 1976-1983 Bronze cast stone sculptures period 1980s Returned to painting; began printmaking collaboration with Gemini G.E.L. 1981 Relocated from Los Angeles to New York 1992-1994 First major retrospective at Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia 1997 MacArthur Fellowship awarded 2000s Spider web paintings and blackboard tableau series 2015 Longtime dealer McKee Gallery closed; began representation with Matthew Marks Gallery 2019-2020 Major retrospective at Metropolitan Museum of Art 2024 First solo exhibition of new work in six years at Matthew Marks (Winter exhibition) 2025 Major retrospective at Fondation Beyeler (June-September) - Identity
- Current Location
- New York, NY
- Awards Recognition
Year Award 1997 MacArthur Fellowship ("Genius Grant") 1996 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award 1996 Inducted into American Academy of Arts and Letters 1980 Guggenheim Fellowship 2009 Fellow Award in the Visual Arts from United States Artists 2009 Roswitha Haftmann Prize
- Artistic Context
- Artistic Influences
- Chuck Close (Yale contemporary, lifelong friend until 2021)Brice Marden (Yale contemporary, lifelong friend until 2023)Abstract Expressionism (Willem de Kooning)Giorgio Morandi (Italian still life painter)Malcolm Morley (photorealism)Jasper JohnsPop Art movement (1960s LA)
Artistic Profile
- Evolution
- Began with recognizable objects and color; progressively removed color, human presence, and reference points; moved from earthly concerns (war, objects) to cosmic concerns (oceans, galaxies, infinity); returned to objects in 2000s but as conceptual investigations of representation; recent work synthesizes all themes - vast cosmic subjects (snowfall) rendered with extreme intimacy
- Themes and Subjects
- Photographic mediation vs. hand-made markVastness and the sublime (oceans, deserts, galaxies)The infinite vs. the intimateTimelessness and absence of reference pointsSurface and depth paradoxMemory and forgettingReal vs. representationProcess over conceptLabor and time made invisibleNature without humansWar and violence at a distanceThe cosmos and human insignificance
- Movements and Periods
- Critical Assessment
- Critics consistently emphasize: 1) Resistance to easy categorization, 2) Paradox of intimate immensity, 3) Labor that appears effortless, 4) Non-autobiographical yet deeply felt, 5) Photographic yet anti-photographic (removes vintage/historicity), 6) Realistic yet abstract. Artforum 1992: 'lapidary... exquisite adept and literalist nonpareil.' 1996 Independent: 'American art's best-kept secret.' Recent scholarship addresses resistance to gendered interpretations (rejecting 'Penelope' metaphor of endless feminine labor).
- Techniques and Mediums
Innovation Medium Quote Acrylic ground makes paper smooth, allows pencil to glide; builds up image corner to corner; 'interested in having the image collect' Graphite on acrylic ground — Dense layering, occasional sanding down and repainting; 'parallel to the unknowable depths of night' Oil painting — Time-consuming craftsmanship that hides labor Printmaking (mezzotint, aquatint, drypoint) 'The art is in the making, not in the object' Painting cast sculptures to match found objects Sculpture (bronze, steel) 'I developed a touch that you could hardly tell was a touch' Subtractive technique - 'exploring negative space, selectively removing darkness' Charcoal with erasers —
Critical Reception
- Critical Reception
- Catalogue Raisonne
- Status
- No complete catalogue raisonné published
- Print Documentation
- The Prints of Vija Celmins (Rippner) - comprehensive print documentation
- Key Critical Themes
- Photorealism without sentiment or autobiographyMediation between photography and hand-drawn mark-makingProcess and labor intensity ('near-infinite labors')Timelessness and removal from historical contextRepresentation of the unrepresentable (vastness, infinity)Material presence and physical surfaceSelf-negation and artistic restraintNature and the sublime in contemporary artThe 'comedy of finding a double' - real vs. representation
- Academic Scholarship
Examples Type 2018: 'To Fix the Image in Memory' (SFMOMA/Met) - 272 pages with essays by Gary Garrels, Suzanne Hudson, Frances Jacobus-Parker, 2025: Fondation Beyeler catalogue - 208 pages with contributions by Julian Bell, Jimena Canales, Teju Cole, Rachel Cusk, Marlene Dumas, Robert Gober, Glenn Ligon, et al., 1992: Philadelphia ICA retrospective catalogue Exhibition catalogues 1992: 'Vija Celmins (Interviewed by Chuck Close)' ed. W.W. Bartman, 2005: 'The Stars' by Vija Celmins and Eliot Weinberger Monographs and books CAA Reviews: 'To Fix the Image in Memory' exhibition review addressing gendered critical clichés (Penelope metaphor) and medium specificity Academic reviews - Critical Positioning
- Universally acclaimed by critics, curators, and scholars as one of the most important American artists of her generation. Compared favorably to Gerhard Richter, Chuck Close, Jasper Johns, and historical masters. Positioned at intersection of photorealism, conceptualism, and sublime landscape tradition.
- Critical Reception Evolution
- 1960s
- Emerged in LA Pop Art scene; recognized early for photorealistic approach while maintaining independence from movements
- 1970s
- Critical acclaim for ocean and night sky drawings; compared to Magritte and Gerhard Richter; Artforum established as key critical voice
- 2000s
- Spider web paintings receive major critical acclaim; continued museum acquisitions
- 2020s
- Fondation Beyeler retrospective and Matthew Marks 'Winter' show reaffirm position as major contemporary master
- 1980s-1990s
- First retrospectives solidify reputation; recognized as major American artist bridging Modernism and post-Modernism
- 2010s-2020s
- Market recognition catches up with critical esteem; described as 'niche' but blue-chip; major retrospectives confirm canonical status
- Publications and Media
- Major Publications
Coverage Publication Multiple feature articles and reviews spanning 1974-2025 Artforum Multiple features including 2025 Fondation Beyeler retrospective review ArtReview Regular coverage; featured artist Art in America 1996 review of 30-year retrospective The Independent (UK) 2025 Fondation Beyeler retrospective coverage The Art Newspaper Regular contemporary coverage Observer Multiple features and reviews New York Times 2019 market analysis feature Bloomberg Multiple reviews and features Frieze - Documentary Coverage
Title Creators Format Vija Bêka & Lemoine 30-minute film Art21 feature Art21 Video interviews and studio visits
Gallery & Representation
- Fair Presence
Fair Frequency Art Basel Regular with Matthew Marks Gallery Frieze Occasional - Representation
- Previous Representation
- Notes
- Renee McKee quoted: 'It was always as difficult to get her to release her work as it was to get her to raise her prices.' Gallery closing prompted move to Matthew Marks.
- Period
- Long-term representation until 2015
- Gallery
- McKee Gallery (David and Renee McKee)
- Location
- New York
- Secondary Market Galleries
Location Gallery Role New York Acquavella Galleries Secondary market New York Senior & Shopmaker Gallery Prints exhibitions (2018, 2019) Los Angeles Gemini G.E.L. Printmaking collaborations since 1980 Los Angeles Lapis Press Print publisher — The Drawing Room Gallery Group exhibition 'Points of Light' (November 2025 - January 2026) - Current Primary Representation
- Notes
- Began representation after longtime dealer McKee Gallery closed in 2015. Carefully controls market placement to avoid speculation.
- Since
- 2015
- Gallery
- Matthew Marks Gallery
- Location
- New York / Los Angeles
- Geographic Reach
- Extremely limited. Works almost never available on open market. Gallery carefully controls releases. Museum curators report multi-decade difficulty acquiring works. Primary: New York (studio and gallery). Historical: Los Angeles (1962-1981). International: London (Tate ARTIST ROOMS), Paris (Centre Pompidou), Basel (Fondation Beyeler)
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