# Dan Flavin artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/dan-flavin/
Profile generated: 2026-05-13T03:43:35.929Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1933-04-01
- Death date: 1996-11-29
- Nationality: American
- Movements: Minimalism
- Common media: Fluorescent light fixtures, Installation art, Drawing and works on paper

## About Dan Flavin

Dan Flavin (1933–1996) was an American artist widely recognized as a defining figure of post-war Minimalism. Born in New York, Flavin transformed the possibilities of sculpture by working almost exclusively with commercially available fluorescent light tubes in standard sizes and colors. Beginning in 1963 with his first diagonal installation, he abandoned traditional sculptural materials and spent three decades exploring how electric light could define, divide, and activate architectural space. His practice encompassed corner pieces, corridor works, barrier installations, and room-scale environments, many of them carrying dedications to fellow artists, writers, or historical figures. Major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Tate in London, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum hold significant collections of his work, and his installations are central to the study of light art and minimal sculpture worldwide.

## Common works and media

Flavin's output includes freestanding and wall-mounted fluorescent light installations in standard tube formats, corner pieces, corridor and barrier works, and full-room environments. His works are typically titled with a dedication or descriptive phrase and the date of creation. Drawings, diagrams, and preparatory works on paper also circulate at auction. Collectors most frequently encounter single-tube diagonal pieces, multi-tube corner installations, and the elongated vertical stacks from his Monuments for V. Tatlin series.

## Market and appraisal context

Dan Flavin's work appears regularly in Post-War and Contemporary Art sales at major auction houses. Large-scale installations from the 1960s and 1970s, especially pieces from his Monuments for V. Tatlin series and named dedication works, tend to attract the strongest bidder interest. Works on paper, drawings, and exhibition-related prints represent a more accessible segment of the market. When assessing a Flavin work, appraisers consider the condition of electrical components, color fidelity of the fluorescent tubes, provenance through the artist's estate, certificate of authenticity, and completeness of fabrication documentation. Site-specific pieces may involve additional considerations around reinstallation rights and architectural context.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine verified artist identity research from museum, library authority, and catalogue sources with auction records, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Dan Flavin, identity data is grounded in records from the Getty Union List of Artist Names, VIAF, the Library of Congress, the RKD, the Museum of Modern Art, and Tate.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q504395
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Flavin
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500021736
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/117220346/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n50003508
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/1911
- Tate: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/dan-flavin-1101
- RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/28247