Yoshitomo Nara’s Largest Auction Painting, “In the Milky Lake / Thinking One,” Could Fetch $15 Million USD

The only major canvas from Nara’s pivotal 2011 returns to market after 14 years in a private collection.

Summary

Yoshitomo Nara’s In the "Milky Lake / Thinking One*," his only major 2011 painting, hits the block November 19.

The 102 by 71 inch canvas is Nara’s largest work ever to reach auction.

It marks his post-Tōhoku shift toward quieter, introspective figures.

Yoshitomo Nara’s “In the Milky Lake / Thinking One” is going under the hammer this month, and it is the largest painting by the Japanese artist ever to reach auction. Fair Warning will offer the 102 x 71 inch canvas in New York on November 19. It will be the painting’s first appearance on the market after 14 years tucked away in a private collection.

The painting is Nara’s lone large-scale canvas from 2011. That was the year the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami tore through north-eastern Japan, the region where he was raised. The disaster left Nara unable to paint for a stretch. When he returned to the studio, the mischievous, combative kids that had won him devotees worldwide gave way to calmer, more contemplative figures.

In the painting, a lone girl casts her gaze downward with her shoulders softly lifted. Her oversized round head sits against a cream backdrop that turns into pale water around her waist, all built from thin, glowing layers of translucent color. Reflecting on that period in remarks shared by Fair Warning, Nara said, “When something like an earthquake or a war causes total devastation, it can temporarily illuminate things that are usually kept in the dark.”

The canvas has since become one of his most recognizable images. It anchored his 2012 Japanese survey across Yokohama, Aomori and Kumamoto. It also appeared at every stop of his recent retrospectives, from LACMA and Guggenheim Bilbao to Museum Frieder Burda and the Hayward Gallery, and Nara hand-picked it for his 2015 volume Self-Selected Works: Paintings. Its reach extends well beyond museum walls. A Kendall Jenner Instagram post featuring the canvas collected more than 3.1 million likes, and David Beckham shared a shot of his daughter photographing it at the Hayward.

Before the sale, the painting gets its own showcase in Chelsea. Fair Warning has built out a ground-floor space at 534 West 22nd Street, modeled on the calm of a Japanese temple. The work will be on public view there from November 6 to 19, following an opening reception on November 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. The auction also lands just after Nara opened Sentinels of Stillness,a trio of monumental works on the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden’s West Lawn that runs from October 31 through fall 2027. Catch “In the Milky Lake / Thinking One” in Chelsea before it hits the block via Fair Warning on November 19.