Chapmans raise Hell for François Pinault: Recreating a work lost to flames

While they wait to make their small-screen debut, the Chapmans are busy recreating their nine-vitrine apocalyptic work, Hell, in which meticulously crafted models of mini Nazis were involved in countless acts of violence and torture. The original work, made in 2000 and bought by the British collector Charles Saatchi for £500,000 ($713,000), went up in flames in 2004 when a fire destroyed a warehouse leased by the storage company MoMart. The new version has been commissioned by the French luxury goods mogul and owner of Christie’s, François Pinault. A selection of Mr Pinault’s collection is currently on display at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice, where one room is entirely devoted to the Chapmans. Dinos Chapman says the new version of Hell will be “an improved version, bigger and brighter” than the original.