FLOAT

Knife Behind Back

Maker
Yoshitomo Nara
Year
2000
Rank
20 of 100

Knife Behind Back

Knife Behind Back by Yoshitomo Nara (2000) is ranked 20 in the FLOAT 100 for Fine art. It sold for $25,053,000 on 6 October 2019. Nara's record canvas anchors a vast global market that extends into his actively traded prints and ceramic multiples.

What is it, and why is it in the FLOAT 100?

Nara's record canvas anchors a vast global market that extends into his actively traded prints and ceramic multiples.

Acrylic on canvas, 234 x 208 cm (unique trophy painting)

What is the best-sourced number for it?

Figure
$25,053,000
Kind
Realized at auction
Date
6 October 2019

Sotheby's Hong Kong Oct 2019, HK$195,696,000 @ HKD~0.128 = ~$25.05M (also quoted £20.2M)

This is a realized sale. Somebody paid it. Source.

How this is made

The figure
One reference price, taken from a named public source and shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
Realized or not
A realized price is a completed sale. A market asking price and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
Why no grade ladder
Most FLOAT 100 entries are individual objects. There is one of this, so there is no population and no spread across grades to show.
Archive
2026-08-08