Selling Van Gogh's Sunflowers
Witness History31 Mar 2022

Selling Van Gogh's Sunflowers

Vincent Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" was sold at auction at Christie's in London in March 1987 for 39.9 million dollars - then a world record and more than double the previous top price paid for an artwork at auction. The sale made front-page headlines and is now seen as the moment the international art market went through the roof. Uma Doraiswamy talks to Lord Charles Hindlip, then the chairman of Christie's and the man who auctioned the painting.

PHOTO: "Sunflowers" arriving in Japan in 1987 after its sale at Christie's (Getty Images)

Episoder(2000)

The brains behind Thunderbirds

The brains behind Thunderbirds

In 1965, a groundbreaking children's show using cutting-edge puppets first blast onto television screens. Thunderbirds was set in 2065 and followed the antics of secret organisation ‘International Res...

3 Nov 202510min

Emerante de Pradines: Haiti’s musical trailblazer

Emerante de Pradines: Haiti’s musical trailblazer

Emerante de Pradines was a Haitian singer, dancer and folklorist who became the first person from her country to sign a record deal. She was dedicated to de-demonising vodou music and folklore and wen...

31 Okt 202510min

Orson Welles broadcasts The War of the Worlds

Orson Welles broadcasts The War of the Worlds

The night before Halloween in 1938, 23-year-old Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre on the Air performed a radio adaptation of HG Wells’s The War of the Worlds.It would become one of the most notorio...

30 Okt 202510min

Srebrenica massacre

Srebrenica massacre

It's 30 years since a massacre of Bosnian Muslims during the war in the former Yugoslavia. The Srebrenica massacre, recognised by the United Nations as a genocide, was the shocking climax of the war i...

29 Okt 202510min

The invention of the balloon-expandable stent

The invention of the balloon-expandable stent

An estimated 2 million stents are implanted into people’s hearts around the world each year – making it one of the key treatments for heart disease. The treatment was invented by Argentinian doctor J...

28 Okt 202510min

Death of a priest

Death of a priest

The 1977 murder of Father Rutilio Grande sent shockwaves through El Salvador. The 48-year-old Jesuit priest was an outspoken champion of the poor in the deeply divided central American nation. In the ...

27 Okt 202510min

The man who invented the scratch card

The man who invented the scratch card

In May 1974, scratch cards went on sale for the first time in the US State of Massachusetts. Free giveaway and coupon games from stores had been commonplace across the USA during the 1950s and '60s –...

24 Okt 202510min

GLP-1: A breakthrough for diabetes and obesity

GLP-1: A breakthrough for diabetes and obesity

In the 1980s, scientists made a discovery that would eventually lead to the development of drugs now used worldwide to treat diabetes and to help people manage obesity through weight loss injections.O...

23 Okt 202510min

Populært innen Samfunn

rss-spartsklubben
giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
konspirasjonspodden
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
aftenpodden-usa
popradet
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
rss-henlagt-andy-larsgaard
wolfgang-wee-uncut
grenselos
min-barneoppdragelse
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
synnve-og-vanessa
rss-dannet-uten-piano
alt-fortalt
frokostshowet-pa-p5
fladseth
relasjonspodden-med-dora-thorhallsdottir-kjersti-idem
opptur-med-annette-og-ingeborg