Richard
Prince

The highest and second-highest auction results for Richard Prince were achieved by Runaway Nurse (2005-06), which sold for £5.9 million in May 2016 and then £7.5 million in June 2021 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. This large-scale mixed media work, measuring almost 2 x 3 metres, perfectly exemplifies Prince's signature appropriation technique: transforming a pulp romance novel cover into fine art through enlargement, digital manipulation, and gestural paint application. The heavily worked surface reveals Prince's physical engagement with the image, as layers of paint both obscure and enhance the underlying material. The timing of the 2021 sale during the global pandemic gave the masked nurse imagery newfound cultural relevance, contributing to its exceptional performance and demonstrating how contextual shifts can dramatically impact the market value of conceptual art.

Nurse Of Greenmeadow (2002) achieved this impressive result at Christie's New York in May 2014. The painting emerged during the initial development of the Nurse series in 2002, when Prince first began experimenting with pulp romance novel covers as source material. The splash of red around her clasped hands adds a slightly ominous, defensive tone to the piece. Coming after his Jokes and Cowboy series, the Nurse paintings represented a new direction in Prince's examination of American cultural archetypes and gendered representation, and coincided with his move from New York City to upstate New York, where he established his studio in a former hunting lodge that later became home to his extensive rare book collection.

Selling at Sotheby's in November 2024, Nurse on Trial (2005) is the most recent installment on this list, highlighting the continued market interest in Prince's Nurse paintings nearly two decades after their creation. The work’s title's legal connotation adds a unique layer of meaning for Prince, suggesting judgment and scrutiny - themes Prince has explored throughout his career, particularly as his appropriation methods have faced legal challenges. Unlike in many of Prince’s other Nurse paintings, this nurse is not partially obscured by translucent paint, adding to the stark, almost theatrical contrast between her white uniform and the deep green background. Contrasts between the subject and the background are integral to all of Prince’s works, however, to emphasise themes of identity, anonymity, and the tension between revealing and concealing.