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It was 1987 when the world's most popular artist Jeff Koons and porn star Ilona Staller, better known as Cicciolina, first met. From that moment began a love affair that lasted more than ten years but ended tragically in the courtroom.
The couple met when they were both at the peak of their careers in their respective fields, he was 32 and she was 35. Koons was immediately attracted to the forbidden world in which Staller worked and asked her to make a film, but it never saw the light of day.
Jeff Koons: Made in Heaven - Photos of the scandal
The X-rated video between the two was never released, but in its place, scandalous works entitled Made in Heaven were created. In this series of works, Koons stars alongside Ilona Staller in shots taken during sexual intercourse with a backdrop of flowers and butterflies. Cicciolina and Jeff Koons used the usual film backgrounds to create a distinctive aesthetic associated with these profane images. Jeff Koons’ Made in Heaven blurred the boundaries between art and pornography which challenged the conventions of artistic taste. This encouraged his audience to make their own decisions about what is acceptable and what is not.
Jeff Koons and Ilona Staller are thus a modern Adam and Eve placed inside a wonderland. The success of these forbidden shots later led to the creation of polychrome and glass sculptures.
Jeff Koons - Ilona Staller: son, marriage, and crisis
She, a Hungarian naturalised Italian, and he, an American; neither knew the other’s language. Yet, thanks to the help of interpreters, the relationship seemed to go so well that they got married in 1991 in Venice. Between Italy and America, the newlyweds decided to move to Munich where in 1992 the couple’s eldest son, Ludwig Koons, was born.
Shortly after Ludwig’s birth, the couple’s marriage broke down and led to the start of a long legal battle that continues to this day.
At a time when the marriage between the two was crumbling, Jeff Koons was to star in a travelling exhibition entitled Post Human that would establish him as an artist-prophet.
Although the love between the two of them is gone, Koons continues to benefit and be inspired by his time with Ilona and the birth of their son. Ludwig Koons is in fact the main subject of the Celebration series. The works celebrate the birth of their son through monumental paintings and sculptures depicting objects related to carefree moments.
While Koons’ fame grows and he is established as one of the world’s most famous and valued contemporary artists, his life is also marked by lawsuits, courts, and lawyers. With the help of a powerful American law firm, Koons won the case on US soil against his ex-wife and obtained sole custody of their son.
This victory, however, did not go over well with Ilona Staller. She went undercover, kidnapped her son, and took him to Rome, where he will remain under her guardianship until he comes of age.
Ilona and the $21 Million lawsuit against Sotheby’s
Just when everything seemed to be settled, yet another lawsuit and scandal broke in 2019 with Jeff Koons and Ilona Staller. Works from the Made in Heaven series had been auctioned by New York auction house, Sotheby’s, without Staller giving them rights.
The actress sent her lawyer Luca di Carlo, who already got her acquitted for the kidnapping of her son. Carlo went to New York and obtained a $21 million compensation for Staller.
“It is unfair that Sotheby’s put those photographs into circulation using my image, without my permission and without paying me royalties. Koons also does not have permission to use my image and has never paid".
Will we ever have an epilogue to this modern anti-fairy tale?
Discover more about the life and works of the artist who, in 2019, saw one of his works auctioned at $91 million, establishing him as the world’s most valuable living artist.
