The original image for David Bowie's Aladdin Sane album is expected to become the most expensive album artwork ever sold, with an estimate of £300,000 when it goes under the hammer in October. The photograph, shot by Brian Duffy, features Bowie with a lightning bolt across his face and could surpass the record set by Led Zeppelin's debut album artwork, which sold for $325,000 in 2020.
The lot includes the stool Bowie sat on during the 1973 shoot, the original Hasselblad 500C camera used by Duffy, and a contact sheet from the session, one of only two in existence. The original inside artwork, a full-length image of Bowie as Aladdin Sane that served as a centrefold for the first 5,000 records, is also being auctioned with an estimate of £150,000 to £200,000.
Claire Tole-Moir, Bonhams' head of popular culture, said the image is iconic and could set a new benchmark. She noted that only George Hardie's artwork for Led Zeppelin's debut and Elton John's Captain Fantastic, which made $212,500, are comparable in significance. The Duffy archive has loaned the artwork to the V&A for its world-touring David Bowie Is exhibition, which attracted 312,000 visitors in London alone.
The photograph was also the centrepiece of the Southbank Centre's exhibition marking the 50th anniversary of Aladdin Sane in 2023. Chris Duffy, Brian Duffy's son, called the image 'the Mona Lisa of pop' and revealed that the lightning bolt was originally a small emblem on Bowie's cheekbone before his father enlarged it with lipstick. Philip Castle, a collaborator of Stanley Kubrick, airbrushed the photograph, adding the watermark on Bowie's shoulder and touching up his eyelashes.
Tole-Moir described the print as a dye transfer print, one of the highest-quality types available, and noted that it was an expensive process even in 1973. Duffy had a long working relationship with Bowie, also shooting artwork for the Lodger and Scary Monsters albums.
