SwissArtGallery · Documented identity
Yue Minjun, born in Daqing, China, in 1962, began studying oil painting at Hebei Normal University in 1985. Based in Beijing, he developed a recurring self-image in the early 1990s: eyes shut and mouth wide open, the figure appears trapped in endless laughter. Whether alone or multiplied into groups, it adopts deliberately exaggerated gestures.
This character subsequently extended into sculpture and printmaking. Beneath brilliant colours, its ambiguous laughter combines mockery, unease and disillusionment with the contemporary world. The self-portrait thus becomes a collective motif rather than an intimate narrative. Yue participated in the Venice Biennale in 1999. In 2012–2013 the Fondation Cartier presented L’Ombre du fou rire, bringing together approximately forty paintings and numerous drawings.
This profile brings together identity references for Yue Minjun and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.
Dobiaschofsky
References include catalogue entries and available results; they do not all represent completed sales. Attributed works and special lots are excluded from the priced results.
Oil on canvas
Untitled (Parrot).
Öl auf Leinwand
Catalogue period : 2025-05-09
Published result : 35000 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 38000
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Oil on canvas
Untitled (99 Idols, No. 66).
Öl auf Leinwand
Catalogue period : 2025-05-09
Published result : 13000 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 14000
View the lot at the auction house ↗
Oil on canvas
Untitled (99 Idols, No. 56).
Öl auf Leinwand
Catalogue period : 2025-05-09
Published result : 13000 CHF
Fees not specified in the available data
Estimate : CHF 14000
View the lot at the auction house ↗SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
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