And Then x 727 (Ultramarine: GUNJO)

A wave, a grin and a color

In 1996 Takashi Murakami painted 727, a three-panel work in acrylic on canvas mounted on board that measures 9 feet 10 inches by 14 feet 9 inches. A stylized wave crashes across all three panels against a mottled purple-blue ground, and in the center his character Mr. DOB surfs the spray, red-eyed and baring spiky teeth. The Museum of Modern Art, which owns it as a gift of David Teiger, notes that the wave strongly suggests the woodblock prints of Hokusai and that the panels evoke a painted folding screen.

Seventeen years later Murakami's studio turned that image into a print. And Then x 727 (Ultramarine: GUNJO) is a 50 by 50 centimeter offset lithograph printed in four colors plus silver and published by his company Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., in Tokyo, in an edition of 300. A Murakami print archive lists its release date as August 10, 2013, at a price of 27,500 yen. Gunjo is the Japanese word for ultramarine, the deep blue that gives this colorway its name.

The title fuses two of Murakami's best-known DOB images: the And Then series of DOB heads, named after the Japanese phrase that repeats 'and then' five times, and the surfing DOB of 727. The print was issued in more than one colorway that year, including a companion called And Then x 727 (Vermillion: SHU).

Murakami and Mr. DOB

Murakami was born in Tokyo on February 1, 1962. He went to the Tokyo University of the Arts hoping to learn the drafting skills to become an animator, but majored in Nihonga, the traditional style of Japanese painting, and earned a Ph.D. in it in 1993. He grew disillusioned with that world and turned to contemporary forms.

He created Mr. DOB in 1993. According to MoMA, the name is a contraction of the Japanese slang 'dobojite', meaning 'why?', and it is spelled out in the character's own features: a D and a B on its round ears, its face the O. The character became an endlessly morphing alter ego for the artist, appearing on paintings, sculptures, key chains and plush toys.

In 1996 Murakami set up the Hiropon Factory, a production workshop modeled on the traditional Japanese atelier system, and in 2001 incorporated it as Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. Prints like this one are made and published by that company, which also manages other artists and produces merchandise. In 2000 he published his Superflat theory, arguing that Japanese art and postwar culture flatten the line between high and low; MoMA says 727 anticipated that theory.

The world in 2013

By 2013 Murakami was a global name. He had worked with a French fashion house since 2002, designed the cover of Kanye West's album Graduation in 2007, been named to Time's 100 most influential people in 2008 as the only visual artist on the list, and in 2010 became the first Japanese artist to show at the Palace of Versailles.

Signed prints such as this one, at 27,500 yen, let that audience own his imagery without buying a painting. The approach is central to Superflat: repackaging high-art images as affordable objects so the line between art and merchandise blurs further.

Outside the studio, 2013 saw a meteor explode over Chelyabinsk in February, Pope Benedict XVI resign and Pope Francis elected in March, Edward Snowden's surveillance disclosures in June, and, a month after this print was released, Tokyo win the right to host the 2020 Summer Olympics.

How to identify it

A genuine impression is a square sheet about 50 by 50 centimeters, signed and numbered by hand at lower right, for example 'Murakami 66/300' or 'Murakami 108/300'. Catalogue entries identify the printer and publisher as Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd., Tokyo. The image is printed in four process colors plus a metallic silver.

Check the colorway in the title. The ultramarine GUNJO version is a different print from the vermilion SHU version and from the many other And Then and DOB prints Murakami issued, and auction results for one are not results for another.

This page's item record dates the print to 2009. The catalogue entries and the release listing found for it all give 2013, and this page follows them.

On the market

Because 300 impressions exist, GUNJO trades regularly at auction in the United States. On April 8, 2024, impression 108/300 sold for $1,260 against an estimate of $1,200 to $1,800. On December 18, 2024, impression 66/300 sold at auction in Chicago for $2,016, above an estimate of $1,200 to $1,800.

Some impressions come with extras. In September 2025 impression 157/300, sold together with an original drawing, brought $2,159; that lot is not a price for the print alone. The source painting, 727, remains in MoMA's permanent collection and is not for sale.

The numbers

Medium

Offset lithograph, four colors plus silver

Dimensions

500 x 500 mm

Edition size

300

Release date and price

August 10, 2013; 27,500 yen

Source painting

727, 1996, three panels, 299.7 x 449.6 cm, MoMA object 251.2003.a-c

Timeline

1. Feb 1, 1962

   Takashi Murakami is born in Tokyo.

2. 1993

   Murakami creates Mr. DOB and earns his Ph.D. in Nihonga.

3. 1996

   Murakami paints 727, with Mr. DOB riding a wave across three panels, and founds the Hiropon Factory.

4. 2000

   Murakami publishes his Superflat theory.

5. 2001

   Hiropon Factory is incorporated as Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd.

6. 2008

   Time names Murakami one of the 100 most influential people.

7. Sep 2010

   Murakami shows at the Palace of Versailles.

8. Aug 10, 2013

   And Then x 727 (Ultramarine: GUNJO) is released in an edition of 300 at 27,500 yen.

9. Apr 8, 2024

   Impression 108/300 sells at auction for $1,260.

10. Dec 18, 2024

    Impression 66/300 sells at auction in Chicago for $2,016.

11. Sep 25, 2025

    Impression 157/300, offered with an original drawing, sells for $2,159.

The world in 2013

• Feb 15, 2013

  A meteor explodes over Chelyabinsk, Russia, injuring about 1,500 people.

• Feb 28, 2013

  Benedict XVI resigns as pope.

• Mar 13, 2013

  Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina is elected Pope Francis.

• Apr 15, 2013

  Bombs at the Boston Marathon kill 3 people and injure 264.

• Jun 6, 2013

  Edward Snowden discloses U.S. mass surveillance operations.

• Sep 7, 2013

  Tokyo is awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics.

• Nov 8, 2013

  Typhoon Haiyan strikes the Philippines, killing at least 6,241 people.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, And Then x 727 (Ultramarine: GUNJO) is number 92 of 100 in the art entries of the FLOAT 100. 88 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (88 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Mr. DOB's name comes from the slang 'dobojite', meaning 'why?', and the letters D, O and B are built into his face and ears.
• The source painting 727 was built up from about twenty layers of acrylic paint that were sanded down to a lacquer-like surface.
• 727 is nearly 15 feet wide and hangs in three panels, like a Japanese folding screen.
• The print's retail price at release was 27,500 yen.
• Murakami was the only visual artist on Time's 2008 list of the 100 most influential people.