Mikhail Gorbachev’s “Forgive me” autograph sold for $183,000 in Moscow

On Feb.19, a man referred to as “artist V. Ivanov” sold a work of his at the 12Y Stul auction house in Moscow – a very unusual one. It’s a canvas with the big black inscription “Prostite” (“Forgive me”) and a signature of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, whose rule ended with the disintegration of the once powerful USSR.

The best thing about the work – an ironic “art provocation” – is that Gorbachev never wrote the inscription. As the author explained, he met Gorbachev as a student in 2009, when he gave a lecture at his university. “After the lecture, there was an informal conversation… I prepared a big canvas and a marker pen and, finding the courage, asked Gorbachev to draw something”. The former politician smiled, signed the canvas and replied: “Draw something yourself, you have enough fantasy, I’m sure!”

And so Ivanov did, the same day adding the inscription “Forgive me”, and becoming Gorbachev’s co-author. As luck would have it, the canvas has brought him 12 million rubles ($183,000) 10 years later. The buyer preferred to stay anonymous.

What Gorbachev thinks of this amusing story is anyone’s guess.

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