Chimp paintings fetch €21,000

BIDDERS went bananas yesterday, paying €21,000 for paintings by a chimpanzee named Congo which were sold alongside works by Renoir and Andy Warhol.

The three abstract pieces up for auction at Bonhams in London were painted by Congo in 1957 and were estimated to fetch between €900 and €1,200.

But hectic bidding for the pieces - which were sold as one lot - forced the price up to €21,600, including buyer’s premium. A spokesperson at Bonhams said there had been a “fantastic” amount of interest in the chimp’s artworks.

They were bought by an American man named Howard Hong, who described himself as an “enthusiast of modern and contemporary painting”.

The chimp produced about 400 drawings and paintings in the late 1950s after being encouraged by animal behaviourist Desmond Morris. He was a regular guest on the Dr Morris’s television programme Zoo Time.

The experiment convinced Morris - who achieved fame for his television series and bestseller The Naked Ape - that chimps could understand some of the elements behind human art.

Dubbed the Cezanne of the ape world, Congo caused a stir among artists at the time, with reactions ranging from scorn to scepticism.

Picasso is thought to have framed one of Congo’s works on his studio wall after receiving it as a gift.

Howard Rutkowski, director of modern and contemporary art at Bonhams, previously said: “I would sincerely doubt that chimpanzee art has ever been auctioned before.”