Yue Minjun painted Execution in 1995 in a month. He sold the painting to Hong Kong art dealer Manfred Schoeni for $5,000.[2] Trevor Simon, an investment banker, stumbled across the painting in 1996 in the back of a Hong Kong gallery. He convinced Schoeni to sell the piece for HK$250,000 / US$32,200. The painting was then shipped from Hong Kong to London, where Simon stored it in a warehouse. Under the terms, the painting was to remain out of sight for five years in a warehouse.[1]
In 2007, Execution became the most expensive work of Chinese contemporary art, selling for £2.9 million / US$5.9 million / €4.2 million at London's Sotheby's.[2] The art piece was billed by Sotheby's as "Among the most historically important paintings of the Chinese avant-garde ever to appear at auction."[2] Simon called Yue a brave man for painting something so politically dangerous.[1]
The artist Yue Minjun denies that his paintings are a veiled criticism of his government or of Chinese society, and he does not believe his work will bring him trouble.[2]
I want the audience not to think of one thing or one place or one event. The whole world's the background. As I said, the viewer should not link this painting to Tiananmen. But Tiananmen is the catalyst for conceiving of this painting.[2]
The painting has been compared to Goya's The Third of May 1808 and Manet's The Execution of Emperor Maximilian.[2]
