Art Market

Robert Indiana’s estate may be worth upwards of $100 million.

Christy Kuesel
Dec 3, 2019 5:14PM, via VillageSoup Knox

A print by Robert Indiana in the late artist’s Maine home, the Star of Hope. Staff photo by Brianna Soukup/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images.

Robert Indiana’s estate, which has been embroiled in various legal battles since the artist’s death in May 2018, may be worth more than $100 million. Indiana is best known for his iconic “LOVE” works and the related “HOPE” imagery he created for former U.S. President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

In an accounting filed Monday, James Brannan, the lawyer for Indiana’s estate, said the value of the estate is currently $90 million and speculated it would eventually exceed $100 million. At the time of the artist’s death, the estate was only valued at $28 million, but has been growing regularly since then. Brannan said he has recovered over $5 million worth of art so far, and expects to recover millions more. Attorney fees related to the estate have almost reached $4 million, according to the filing.

In his 2016 will, Indiana left almost his entire estate to the nonprofit organization Star of Hope Inc., named after his home on the island of Vinalhaven in Maine. The organization will convert his home into a museum, to be run by Jamie Thomas, Indiana’s former caretaker. Thomas himself is being sued by Indiana’s estate, which claims he left the artist to live in “squalor and filth” while acquiring $1.1 million and over 100 artworks from Indiana. Separately, Indiana’s estate sued two companies in May to stop the reproduction of the artist’s “LOVE” works.

Christy Kuesel