A David Bowie Painting Becomes An Unlikely Thrift Store Artifact
Cowley Abbott“DHead XLVI” is one of 47 paintings in the “Dead Heads” series created by singer David Bowie in the 1990s.
In 2018, an unnamed woman bought a painting at a landfill donation center in Ontario. Unlike many other shoppers on this list, the woman quickly pegged it as one of David Bowie’s paintings.
“The painting itself caught their eye,” Rob Cowley, the president of the auction house Cowley Abbott, told CNN in 2021. “They thought it was an interesting painting before they turned it around and saw the labels on the back.”
The front of the canvas featured a vivid portrait, while the back had a signature along with a tag that listed Bowie’s name, the title of the piece, and a short description. The woman purchased the painting for $4 and immediately began trying to determine if it was authentic.
Between 1995 and 1997, English singer David Bowie painted a series of 47 portraits called “Dead Heads.” Each work was labeled with a random Roman numeral, and the canvas found at the Canadian thrift store was “DHead XLVI.”
Cowley AbbottThe back of the painting revealing the name of the artist.
The woman contacted Cowley Abbott about the painting, and the auction house reached out to Andy Peters, an expert on Bowie’s signature, to confirm its authenticity.
“When I first saw the painting, I knew what it was straightaway,” Peters told CNN. “I did not need to see the autograph on the back because I knew, but obviously the signature sealed the deal.”
While a valuation estimated that the painting would bring in between $7,000 and $10,000 at auction, it actually sold for $88,000.
