Half a million euros. Paris Saint-Germain striker Kylian Mbappé paid on the evening of Thursday May 16, 2024, the sum of 520,000 euros for a painting representing football legend Pelé. “O REI” (the king in Portuguese) is a canvas measuring 200×150 cm, painted in 2023 by contemporary artist Alexandre Hopare. Aged 35, he comes from Limours, a suburb of Essonne (91).
The purchase took place during the auction organized by Artcurial for the benefit of the Paris Saint-Germain Foundation, PARIS FOR GOOD, organized this Thursday, May 16 in the evening, Place Vendôme. The painting was put up for sale and purchased last year. But following the horseback accident of Sergio Rico, the PSG goalkeeper, on May 28, the Parisian club’s charity gala was canceled and the sale rescheduled for this year’s event.
Priced at 5,000 euros, the work attracted for a while six buyers who fought for up to 300,000 euros. It was then PSG striker Kylian Mbappé and his friend Achraf Hakimi who upped the ante in front of an audience as stunned as they were amused. The determined PSG star didn’t give up and ended up winning the work for 520,000 euros. He thus achieved the record sale of the charity evening. The 2.7 million euros raised in total will be donated to charity.
Kylian Mbappé had formed a special relationship with Pelé, the Brazilian legend with whom he shared records of precocity. On December 29, 2022, on Rest in peace, King.” Although he has never seen him played, Mbappé has a form of admiration for Pelé. The two men met during an event organized in April 2019 by a watch brand of which they were partners. And they complimented each other.
The last canvas by the painter Hopare was purchased during a non-charitable sale in Hong Kong for 83,000 euros, six times cheaper than O REI. He signed his record sale last night, thanks to the PSG striker.
