Is Peter Max Still Collectible? Paintings, Prints and Posters Explained

Peter Max died in September at 88, and his work is in many homes. Here is how to tell an original painting from a print or poster, and what each type sells for.

SebastianCharles Auctions

Peter Max died in September at 88. For more than 50 years his bright, cosmic style was everywhere, on posters, product lines, postage stamps, Super Bowls and even the hull of a cruise ship. That reach means a lot of families own a Peter Max today. Some own a painting worth five figures. Many more own a print or poster worth a few hundred dollars. Here is how to tell which one you have.

Who Peter Max was

Max was born in Berlin in 1937. His family fled to Shanghai the next year, then moved to Haifa, Paris and finally Brooklyn. By the late 1960s his psychedelic pop images were so popular that Life put him on its cover in September 1969. He designed a 10 cent US postage stamp for Expo '74, began his Statue of Liberty series on July 4, 1976, and painted portraits of presidents from Kennedy onward. He served as official artist for the Super Bowl, the Grammys and the 1994 World Cup, and in 2012 he painted the hull of the Norwegian Breakaway.

All of that made him famous. It also means there is a huge supply of his work on the market, and supply is the biggest factor in what a Peter Max sells for.

Original paintings bring the strongest prices

An original acrylic on canvas is the Peter Max collectors want. We sold Peter Max's "Zero Spectrum," an acrylic on canvas, for $13,000, at the top of its $10,000 to $13,000 estimate. Heritage Auctions sold a 1993 "Liberty Head," acrylic on canvas, 36 by 36 inches, for $18,750 in 2021. Market data shows most recent acrylics on canvas selling somewhere between about $3,750 and $13,000, with size, subject and date driving the spread.

The images people know best, like Liberty, the Umbrella Man and his profile heads, tend to draw the most bidders. Early work from the 1960s and early 1970s is the scarcest and most desirable.

Prints, mixed media and posters

Most Peter Max pieces in homes are not original paintings. Here is roughly how the other types sell:

• Hand embellished prints. These are lithographs or serigraphs with some paint added by hand on top. They usually bring hundreds to low thousands. An Umbrella Man mixed media piece sold for $1,100 at auction in 2021.
• Signed limited edition serigraphs and lithographs. These typically sell for about $300 to $800.
• Posters. Open edition posters usually sell for under $350. Even a 1968 head shop poster can bring under $100. A hand signed poster in great condition does better, but it is still a poster.

To tell a painting from a print, look at the surface in raking light. A painting shows brushstrokes and texture across the whole image, and the paint wraps around or stops at the canvas edges. A print has a flat, even surface, often with an edition number like 45/300 in the margin. An embellished print shows texture only in a few spots, sitting on top of a flat printed image.

The cruise ship question

A large share of the Peter Max work in circulation was bought at cruise ship art auctions. If that is where yours came from, be ready for a gap between what you paid and what it brings today. In one reported case, a buyer who spent $169,000 on Max works through a cruise ship seller said other galleries and auction houses valued the collection at no more than $25,000 combined. That does not mean your piece is worthless. It means the secondary market sets the price, not the original receipt.

Why the date of your piece matters

In 2019, The New York Times reported that while Max was living with dementia, studio assistants were producing works in his style that he then signed, with many sold through cruise auctions. He had been under a court guardianship since 2015. Max also has no catalogue raisonné, the complete scholarly record of an artist's work that collectors rely on.

So buyers look closely at when a piece was made and where it came from. A painting from the 1960s to the 1990s with a clear history draws more confidence than a late piece with only a gallery certificate. Certificates of authenticity are common with Max and help show where a piece came from, but they are not proof on their own.

What makes a Peter Max worth more

• Original paint on canvas, not a print or embellished print
• An earlier date, especially the 1960s and early 1970s
• Size. Larger canvases bring more.
• Iconic imagery like Liberty, the Umbrella Man and his signature profiles
• Provenance. Receipts, gallery records, photos of the piece in your home over the years, or a letter from the person who bought it
• Condition. Bright, unfaded color with no damage to the canvas

Getting your Peter Max valued

Take photos of the front, the signature, the back of the canvas or frame, and any labels, stamps or certificates. If you have the original receipt, photograph that too. Then send everything through our free estimate form. Sebastian reviews every inquiry personally and will tell you honestly whether your piece belongs in a national auction. Strong original paintings go in front of our national and international bidders. For more pop art and prints we have sold, see our auction highlights and our paintings department.