'Sugar Shack' painting, cover of Marvin Gaye's 'I Want You' sells for $15 million

Ernie Barnes’s most famous painting, “The Sugar Shack,” an exultant dancing scene that was featured on the cover of Marvin Gaye’s album “I Want You” and during the closing credits of the TV sitcom “Good Times,” sold for $15.3 million at Christie’s 20th Century auction on Thursday evening (March 12).

Another of Barnes’ paintings, “Ballroom Soul” was used as the cover for Faith Hope & Charity’s self-titled 1978 album.  Barnes, a well-known Black artist who passed away in 2009, later did the art for several posters for the 1984 Olympics..