Cai Guo-Qiang: career timeline

Chinese · b. 1957 · Works grouped by the decade they were made (the cataloged date, or a date in the signature or title), not by sale date. 32 of 34 lots (94% of works) have a usable creation date; the others are listed at the end by the decade they were sold. Each work is shown once, even when it sold more than once.

Cai Guo-Qiang: works at auction by decade the work was made. Each work counted once; medians use sold works only, in US dollars.

Decade made	Works	Sold	Median sold price	Main medium
1980s	1	1	$75.6kSign up	Oil
1990s	6	3	$51.7kSign up	Drawing
2000s	18	16	$49.9kSign up	Drawing
2010s	7	5	$712kSign up	Other

Where does mine fit?

Enter what you know about a work by Cai Guo-Qiang to see the closest recorded works from the same period, with their auction results. These are past records only, not a valuation: condition, authenticity, provenance and the market all change what a work brings. For an auction estimate of your work, get a free auction estimate.

Year madeHeight (in)Width (in)MediumSubject

1980s 1 work

Sold: 1 of 1
Median: $75.6kSign up
Average: $75.6kSign up
Typical size: 12.5 × 15.5 in (32 × 40 cm)
Mediums: Oil (1)
Subjects: —

1988 Solar Eclipse$75.6kSign up

1990s 6 works

Sold: 3 of 6
Median: $51.7kSign up
Average: $57.4kSign up
Typical size: 36.5 × 25.5 in (93 × 65 cm)
Mediums: Drawing (5), Print (other) (1)
Subjects: —

2000s 18 works

Sold: 16 of 18
Median: $49.9kSign up
Average: $264kSign up
Typical size: 29.5 × 38 in (75 × 97 cm)
Mediums: Drawing (11), Other (5), Print (other) (1)
Subjects: Figures & portraits (2), Boats (1)

2002 Skybound UFO and Shrine$616kSign up
2003 Boat with Reflection (a set of 2)$95.2kSign up
2003 Drawing for Fireworks from HeavenUnsold
2003 Man, Eagle, and Eye in the Sky, (Siwa, Egypt) No. 16 & No. 18Unsold
2005 Two Wandering Tigers$569kSign up
2005 Life Beneath the Shadow: The Brahan Seer$145kSign up
2005 Golden Yuan Bills-Numinous Talismans$12kSign up
2005 Golden Yuan Bills – Numinous Talismans$13.2kSign up
2005 Golden Yuan Bills–Numinous Talismans$13.2kSign up
2005 Golden Yuan Bills - Numinous Talismans$16kSign up
2005 Golden Yuan Bills - Numinous Talismans$11.1kSign up
2005 Furious Tiger Going Down a Mountain$989kSign up

Show 6 more (2000s)

2006 Foreplay$2.2kSign up
2006 Study for a wolf's bodily movement: For head on$11.9kSign up
2006 Nontransparent Monument No. 1~No. 5 (A set of 5)$27.9kSign up
2006 Descending Wolves for the Guggenheim International Gala$904kSign up
2007 Danger Book: Suicide Fireworks$72kSign up
2009 Dragon Cypress$720kSign up

2010s 7 works

Sold: 5 of 7
Median: $712kSign up
Average: $658kSign up
Typical size: 78.5 × 72 in (200 × 183 cm)
Mediums: Other (6), Multiple (1)
Subjects: —

2010 Black Sunflower$414kSign up
2010 Nice – Church$712kSign up
2010 Study for Sunflower$1.4MSign up
2012 Rice Hulls$13.9kSign up
2014 Yellow and White PeoniesUnsold
2016 Poppy Series: Animals No. 2$739kSign up
2019 Murmuration BoxUnsold

Creation date not recorded

2 works have no cataloged or signed date. They are grouped here by the decade they were last sold, which says nothing about when they were made.

Undated, sold in the 2000s 1 work

Sold: 1 of 1
Median: $84.4kSign up
Average: $84.4kSign up
Typical size: 23.5 × 28.5 in (60 × 72 cm)
Mediums: Oil (1)
Subjects: —

sold 2008 Scenery of the Sun-Black Dot$84.4kSign up

Undated, sold in the 2010s 1 work

Sold: 1 of 1
Median: $7.2kSign up
Average: $7.2kSign up
Typical size: 8.5 × 17 in (22 × 44 cm)
Mediums: Mixed media (1)
Subjects: —

sold 2018 Project for Extraterrestrials No.10 — Project to Add 10,000 Meters to the Great Wall of China$7.2kSign up

Medians and averages count sold works only (each work's most recent sale), in US dollars at the sale-date rate. Works cataloged as “attributed to”, “circle of” or similar are left out. All Cai Guo-Qiang auction results →