A$2.1M Aboriginal Art Auction Record

A work by the late Aboriginal artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye sold for A$2.1 million, setting a new record for a work by an Australian female painter in 2017. Earth's Creation 1, a large work from the Utopia artist, painted in 1994, sold for nearly double the price paid for it 10 years earlier, when it sold for A$1.056 million in 2007 (it was the first Aboriginal artwork to break the million-dollar mark at auction).

Kngwarreye painted the 6.32 metre by 2.75 metre acrylic on canvas on four panels in her 80s, just two years before her death. It is the second-highest price for an Aboriginal work, behind the A$2.4 million paid a decade ago for Warlugulong by Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri.