Image: Ernie Barnes, The Sugar Shack, 1976.CHRISTIE'S

Ernie Barnes’ 1976 painting, “Sugar Shack”, made famous in popular sitcom ‘GOOD TIMES’ and also used as the cover for the legendary soul singer Marvin Gaye's "I Want You" album was sold for a whopping $15.3 million, on Thursday, Last week, at an auction, in the United Kingdom.

The painting is an acrylic-on-canvas piece depicting a frenzy scene in a dance hall filled with enigmatic dancers and partygoers as they moved enthusiastically to the rhythm of an R&B band comprising a lead singer, sax player, trumpeter, guitarist, and a drummer.

Barnes in an interview with Soul Museum described the painting as one that "transmits rhythm," and allows the viewer to "recreate the same experience." Adding that it depicts how African Americans utilize rhythm as a way of resolving physical tension.

Bill Perkins, a Houston-based trader,  who won the painting in a ten minutes auction by more than 22 bidders opined that he would have “paid a lot more”  for the piece as he believes “it’s more famous than the Mona Lisa painting.” Noting that he flew down to New York from Houston to bid on the masterpiece in person.

 

 The Christie’s Auction House also revealed that the final auction price for "The Sugar Shack" was 27 times higher than Barnes’ previous works of art ever sold before. Adding that it blew past its estimated sale price of $150,000 to $200,000.

“You never saw paintings of Black people by Black artists,” Perkins said. “This introduced not just me but all of America to Barnes’ work. It’s the only artwork that has ever done that. And these were firsts… The cultural importance of this piece is just crazy.

Born in North Carolina in 1938, the contemporary artist Ernie Barne said he got the inspiration for "The Sugar Shack" while reflecting on his childhood in North Carolina, and painted in a style today known as Black Romantic. Though the artist died in 2009, his works' inspirations were often drawn from his own experiences which are mostly depictions of social moments and images of everyday Black life.