Actor Leonardo DiCaprio’s mum, Irmelin Indenbirken, attended the amFAR annual Cannes Gala where the portrait of her son was auctioned for $1.3 million. Held at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in the South of France, Indenbirken rose to her feet at about 11:30 pm and recorded with her phone from Table 15 when the super-rich bid on DiCaprio’s portrait.
The one-of-its-kind portrait was painted by Damien Hirst and auctioned by Simon de Pury. The portrait had earlier been bought by a private art collector and then donated back to amFAR so that it could fetch money that could be used for HIV/AIDS eradication. amFAR was founded by the late Dr. Mathilda Krim and Dame Elizabeth Taylor in 1985 to raise funds for AIDS research, and the organization held a gala night every year to conclude the Cannes Film Festival.
This year’s amFAR event was emceed by Queen Latifah and hundreds of celebrities were in attendance. Some of the personalities at the event were Alex Pettyfer, Eva Longoria, Fan Bingbing, Heidi Klum, James Marsden, Jeremy O. Harris, Joel Kinnaman, Kate Beckinsale, Matt Smith, Odell Beckham Jr, Petra Nemcova, Rebel Wilson, Sadie Frost, Shay Mitchell, Storm Reid, Teyana Taylor and many more.
Adam Lambert, Halsey, Bebe Rexha, and Gladys Knight among other Top-A musicians performed live music to the delight of attendees. DiCaprio’s portrait had been wheeled to the stage by two men before the large canvas was unveiled to the delight of the crowd. The actor himself had tried to be invisible at the event with very little success; he came late, wearing a baseball cap, and kept his head down after entering the venue through the backdoor.
DiCaprio’s painting was not the only item auctioned off at the amFAR event to raise money for HIV/AIDs (it must be noted that DiCaprio attended this year’s Cannes Film Festival to promote Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon in which he featured in). Eva Longoria and James Marsden came on stage to also auction a new Aston Martin sportscar which eventually fetched $1.6 million.
Chopard was the Signature Sponsor of the amFAR Cannes Gala and he donated a pair of Haute Joaillerie 18-karat white gold earrings set with pear-shaped emeralds weighing 9.77 carats and diamonds weighing 7.3 carats – it sold for $300,000. About $650,000 was raised when a collection of 18 gowns from Versace, Prada, Chanel, Balmain, Dior, Givenchy, and Louis Vuitton were auctioned. A stainless steel glass sculpture by artist Anthony James and featured in the movie “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery” fetched $270,000.