A painting created by the four members of the Beatles while on tour in Japan in 1966 has sold at auction for $1.7 million (€1.58 million).
The painting, known as "Images of a Woman", was part of Christie’s The Exceptional Sale and made nearly triple the high presale estimate of $600,000 (€560,000).
It is the only work that each bandmate - John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Star - created together.
As the story goes, the Fab Four spent about 100 hours in Japan during their 1966 tour. The group stayed put in their hotel room at the behest of local authorities who were concerned about their safety, considering excitable fans and reports of threats from Japanese nationalists, who were not happy about a Western rock band playing areas considered spiritual for martial arts.
The painting was conceived during the band’s retreat in the Presidential Suite of the Hilton Hotel in Tokyo, completed over two nights. It was overseen by photographer Robert Whitaker, who documented the process.
Each Beatle reportedly sat at a corner, painting something different. Whitaker observed, according to Christie’s release: “I never saw them calmer or more contented than at this time.”
Each musician contributed their personal style to the painting: Ringo Starr’s small caricatures, George Harrison’s angular brushstrokes, and John Lennon and Paul McCartney primarily working with acrylic. Their signatures sit in the middle of the work.
Other lots in Christie’s The Exceptional Sale included a 1965 Gretsch electric guitar once owned by Elvis Presley, which sold for $302,400 (€281,000), and gold crocheted vest owned by Janis Joplin, which the songstress wore it in a photoshoot at the Chelsea Hotel. Tagged with a $30,000 – $50,000 (€28,000 - €46,000) estimate, the vest did not find a buyer.
