Crichton’s art auctioned to nab £20m

Two years after Michael Crichton’s death, four of his paintings from his private collection are being put up for sale and shed a little more light into the world of Crichton.

Best known for his books that went on to be blockbuster hits (read: Jurassic Park), the paintings – worth an estimated £20m – reveal a new side of creativity to the famed author. He was close friends with American artist Jasper Johns, a NeoDadist who draws on use of classical iconography.

His work Flag was dubbed as “simple-minded” by the critics, but Crichton loved it and purchased it outright about thirty years ago.

According to Crichton, he “bought images that I enjoyed looking at, and in the end, this is the only significance that I attach to them.”

The other three paintings up for auction include Femme et filettes (Woman and Children) by Pablo Picasso, Studio Painting (Combine) by Robert Rauschenberg and Girl in Water by Roy Lichtenstein – at the Christie’s sale in New York on May 11th.