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Art for Human Rights has organised two major art auctions with the goal of raising money for Amnesty International through the generosity and collaboration of scores of artists.
Part of the inspiration for founding Art for Amnesty, as Art for Human Rights was then called in 2002, was the Artists for Amnesty Art Auction held in Dublin twenty years earlier in May 1982 promoted by Louis le Brocquy and Anne Madden.
Art for Human Rights has organised two major art auctions to raise money for Amnesty International through the generosity and collaboration of scores of artists.
In 2022, Art for Human Rights partnered with Sotheby’s France and Amnesty International France and Switzerland to organise a benefit auction in support of Amnesty’s work. Conceived by Swiss artist Titus Eichenberger and run by him and Art for Human Rights Founder and Director Bill Shipsey with generous support from Ulrich Loock.
The auction featured remarkable artworks generously donated by internationally renowned artists Marlene Dumas, Richard Serra, Luc Tuymans, Ai Wei Wei, John Armleder, Michael Craig Martin, Genieve Figgis, Suzan Frecon, and Thomas Struth. Marlene Dumas’s Mouth achieved a sale price of €550,000, while Richard Serra’s Orchard Street #83″ achieved €200,000. In total, the auction raised €1.2 million for Amnesty.
“In the Time of Shaking“, one of the earliest initiatives of Art for Human Rights, was an exhibition and art sale organised in collaboration with the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) through the generosity of its then Director Enrique Juncosa in May 2004. It showcased works by over one hundred of Ireland’s leading contemporary artists including Louis le Brocquy, Patrick Scott, Sean Scully, Tony O’Malley, Felim Egan and Alice Maher. Curated and co-ordinated by Professor Ciaran Benson of University College Dublin and members of the ‘Artists for Amnesty International’ 2004 Committee, all proceeds from the auction were donated to Amnesty International Ireland. The exhibition was opened by Yoko Ono and The Edge.
Art for Human Rights is currently working on a third major auction for 2025/26 for the benefit of Amnesty International France, Switzerland and the United States.
