‘Very Beautiful’ Portrait of the Gallagher Brothers Heads to Auction with £2 Million Estimate
“Where you gonna swim with the riches that you found?” Oasis once asked in All Around the World. For one lucky buyer, the answer might be the art market—specifically, by bidding on a striking portrait of Noel and Liam Gallagher at the height of their Britpop fame, expected to fetch between £1.5 million and £2 million.
Sotheby’s has announced that a 1996 painting of the brothers by American artist Elizabeth Peyton will go under the hammer in its June contemporary art sale in London. The work is based on a 1995 photograph by Stefan De Batselier, taken during the peak of Oasis’s fame—and tension. That same year, Noel reportedly hit Liam with a cricket bat. That complicated relationship is subtly captured in Peyton’s portrait, according to Antonia Gardner, Sotheby’s head of contemporary evening sales.
“There’s a quiet tension in the image,” Gardner said. “Their arms are around each other, but you can sense an undercurrent. Knowing what happened later, it feels almost prophetic.”
Gardner also noted the visual appeal of the portrait, calling it “very beautiful,” and highlighting Peyton’s unique artistic lens. “She often softens the appearance of male rock stars, giving them features that feel almost romantic—bright red lips, softly flushed cheeks, elegant noses. She feminizes these big, macho figures just slightly, and it’s incredibly effective.”
The year 1996 was a defining one for Oasis. The band played what were then the largest concerts in UK history, performing to 500,000 fans over two nights at Knebworth Park, with a staggering 2.5 million people applying for tickets. That moment became a cultural milestone, emblematic of the Britpop era.
Now, Oasis are back. After 16 years of public feuding, the Gallagher brothers are reuniting for a major UK and Ireland tour in 2025. Demand has reached record-breaking levels—14 million fans attempted to buy just 1.4 million tickets. “It shows how much they still matter,” Gardner said. “This painting coming to auction now feels incredibly timely—like it’s come full circle.”
While tickets at Knebworth once cost £22.50, this time fans are facing prices upwards of £350 due to controversial “dynamic” pricing models. Still, the tour is predicted to be one of the most profitable in British music history, with fans expected to spend over £1 billion on everything from tickets and travel to merchandise and memorabilia.
Elizabeth Peyton, considered one of the most influential painters to emerge in the 1990s, captured a moment in time just as the cultural wave of Cool Britannia was cresting. While the UK art world was dominated by the Young British Artists, Peyton brought an outsider’s gaze, painting iconic figures like John Lennon, Keith Richards, and Kurt Cobain.
This portrait is one of four Peyton created of the Gallagher brothers. One now resides in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and a portrait of Liam sold for $4.1 million at auction last November—a record price for her work.
The painting heading to Sotheby’s on 25 June carries an estimate of £1.5 million to £2 million, poised to attract both collectors of fine art and die-hard fans of British rock history.
