Jeff Koons's Bronze Cork Sculpture «Corks (Couple)» Priced at $4.5 Million at Art Basel Paris

A polychrome bronze sculpture more than three meters tall anchors Gagosian's stand at Art Basel Paris 2026. «Corks (Couple)» was made by Jeff Koons between 2011 and 2018 and has rarely been shown publicly; it carries an indicative valuation of roughly $4.5 million, which the gallery presents as a positioning estimate rather than a price actually achieved. The work enlarges a cluster of wine corks to monumental scale, reproducing in bronze the porous texture, irregularities, age marks and wine stains of the natural material, finished in polychrome to heighten the trompe-l'œil effect. A heavy, durable metal thus mimics a light, perishable object, unsettling the hierarchies between original and copy, precious and banal, permanence and consumption. Koons's title frames the corks as a couple, and the compact grouping strips the objects of their original function, turning discards into an autonomous sculptural presence conceived to last. The wine reference evokes conviviality and celebration, while the outsize dimensions invert the fate of items normally thrown away after a bottle is opened. The presentation also reflects a commercial strategy built on visually striking, instantly recognizable works in a fair where competition for collectors' attention is intense. Beyond its spectacle, the piece restates a central question of Koons's practice: how an ordinary object changes meaning once removed from daily life, enlarged and turned into a commodity for the art market.