Maurizio Cattelan, Untitled, 1999 UPDATE: IT MADE £425,000
A provocative work by Italian artist Maurizio Catalan listing every time the England team has lost comes up as part of Sotheby’s Bear Witness sale in London on March 10. The artist said it talks about pride, missed opportunities and death. Etched into black granite, like an epitaph on a memorial, is every occasion the England football team has lost a game. Stretching from Scotland’s 2-1 defeat of England in Glasgow in 1874 to Romania’s 2-1 victory at the 1998 World Cup, this monumental work of art charts the many ignominious moments the national team has suffered over the years. Cattelan’s other well-known works include La Nona Ora (The Ninth Hour) which depicts Pope John Paul II being struck down by a meteorite.
The football monument was first exhibited in London in 1999 and its sale at Sotheby’s follows England’s worst ever performance at a football World Cup in 2014 (including losses to Italy and Uruguay). It is estimated at £400,000-600,000.