Painting 1: This is the first version of “The Sugar Shack” by Ernie Barnes. The painting is owned by Eddie Murphy and was used for the cover of a Marvin Gaye album. Shown, ERNIE BARNES, “The Sugar Shack,” 1976 (acrylic on canvas). | Image Courtesy Ernie Barnes Estate
The artist said he painted ‘The Sugar Shack’ twice because he ‘needed a backup.’ The second version set the auction record and is currently on view at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
A LIVELY DANCE SCENE by Ernie Barnes (1938-2009) was made famous on the beloved 1970s sitcom “Good Times,” appeared on the cover of a Marvin Gaye album, and brought a surprise multi-million dollar result at Christie’s a few years ago.
“The Sugar Shack” is a segregation-era dance scene depicting men and women grooving to the sounds of a soulful singer backed by a four-piece band. The painting was inspired by a night of impassioned dancing Barnes witnessed as a young teen at the Durham Armory in his hometown of Durham, N.C. More than two decades later, after a brief pro-football career, the athlete-turned-artist was living and working in Los Angeles when he translated the potent memory onto canvas.
There are two versions of “The Sugar Shack.” Barnes captured the spirit, energy, and movement of the dance scene twice. Both are authentic paintings created by the artist’s hand. The first one caught the attention of Marvin Gaye who featured “The Sugar Shack” on the cover of his album “I Want You” (1976). After Gaye died in 1984, Eddie Murphy purchased the painting from the singer’s estate.
Following the album project, Barnes made another painting called “The Sugar Shack.” He described the new version as a “back up,” according to Luz Rodriguez, who began working as an assistant to Barnes in 1988 and now manages the late artist’s estate and legacy project on behalf of his family.
William (Bill) O. Perkins owns the second painting. In 2022, the Houston, Texas-based collector acquired “The Sugar Shack” (1976) at a Christie’s New York auction for nearly $15.3 million. The price set an astronomical record for Barnes, whose previous high mark at auction was just $550,000.
Ernie Barnes, 1968. | Courtesy Ernie Barnes Estate
The record-breaking painting is the version that appeared during the credits on “Good Times.” In the late 1970s, millions regularly viewed “The Sugar Shack.” The television exposure popularized the painting with viewers, particularly the African American audience. Overtime, the image became a recognizable cultural touchstone. Currently, the painting is on public view at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Houston.
Nearly 50 years after Barnes made “The Sugar Shack” paintings, the fact that two exist has received scant attention and, after the news-making auction result garnered a flood of press, most of the coverage across mainstream media, and art, culture, and sports outlets conflated the two paintings and incorrectly stated that the second version appeared on both “Good Times” and Gaye’s album cover.
What distinguishes one version of “The Sugar Shack” from the other? Both paintings were completed in 1976. They are nearly identical in terms of overall content and general composition. The medium (acrylic on canvas) and size (36 x 48 inches) of each work are the same, too.
The visual differences are subtle and primarily found in the appearance of the promotional banners that hang from the rafters across the top of the image, high above the dance scene. The text-based signs are a key component of the picture, helping to convey the nature of the juke joint-style dance hall and some of the happenings that attract its patrons.
What distinguishes one version of “The Sugar Shack” from the other? The visual differences are subtle and primarily found in the appearance of the promotional banners that hang from the rafters across the top of the image, high above the dance scene.
Painting No. 1 was used for the cover of Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You” (1976) album
The Estate of Ernie Barnes shared a breakdown of the paintings with Culture Type, providing the details unique to each version. Here is how they differ:
THE ‘ORIGINAL’ SUGAR SHACK (PAINTING 1)
BARNES FINISHED THE FIRST PAINTING early in 1976. Initially, there were four banners pictured in “The Sugar Shack.” The banners included promotions for a radio station, dance contest, free chicken dinners, and live musical entertainment featuring “Big Daddy Rucker.”
When Painting 1 was commissioned for the cover of Gaye’s “I Want You” album, Barnes made some alterations to the work, customizing it with references to the singer’s music. He edited the language on the existing banners and added a fifth one.
The second banner initially said: To The Sugar Domino, Friday and Sat Oct. 1, 19 Do It! Do It! Do It! Do It! For the album, Barnes changed the second banner to the following: To The Sugar Domino, Also Featuring ‘After the Dance.’ (The song “After the Dance” is included on Gaye’s “I Want You” album.) The third banner was also altered from “620 on Your Dial WSRC” to “Listen to WMPG.” (The revised call letters stood for the singer’s initials, based on his full name: Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr.) On the far right, a new banner was added in celebration of the album. This fifth banner reads: Featuring Marvin Gaye With His New Hit ‘I Want You.’
The album was released on March 16, 1976, by Tamla, a subsidiary of Motown Records. After the painting was photographed for the album cover, Rodriguez said, Barnes got the painting back and made additional modifications to the canvas. He reverted the second banner back to its original language, which concluded with “Do It! Do It! Do It! Do It!” He also changed the fourth banner back to “620 on Your Dail WSRC.” This adjustment introduced a typo, so the banner reads “Dail” instead of “Dial.” The fifth banner remained. The final version of Painting 1 is reflected in the chart below.
Gaye was in possession of the painting when he passed away eight years later in 1984. He was only 44 years old. Subsequently, Murphy acquired the painting. Over the past 40 years, it has remained out of public view.
A Rolling Stone writer named Brian Hiatt mentioned seeing the painting when he went to Murphy’s home to conduct an interview. The conversation was published in the magazine in 2011.
Setting the scene in the introduction to the Q&A with Murphy, Hiatt described “the basement of the stone-and-marble mansion he built on a Beverly Hills cliff.” He said the space included a “blue-lit” club room, an arcade filled with video games, and a two-lane bowling alley.
Hiatt added: “Hanging in a corner, above an electric keyboard, is Ernie Barnes’ iconic painting Sugar Shack—as seen on the cover of Marvin Gaye’s I Want You and in the opening credits of Good Times. It is, of course, the original.” (Murphy’s painting was featured only on Gaye’s album.)
THE ‘BACKUP’ VERSION (PAINTING 2)
WHY DID BARNES DUPLICATE “The Sugar Shack”? Rodriguez said she approached Barnes in his office one day and suggested that it was important to document and explain why he made what is essentially the same painting twice. It was about 2006. In response, she said the artist offered a straightforward reason in a handwritten note. On a plain sheet of paper, Barnes wrote: “Why 2 Sugar Shacks There was a time when this painting moved around, uninsured and out of my hands. I needed a back up.”
Painting 2 is the version that set the auction record. The original owner of Painting 2 was Bob Payson (1940-1986), a Los Angeles attorney and acquaintance of Barnes, who owned several of his paintings. Rodriguez said Payson admired the first version of “The Sugar Shack” that went to Gaye. After the artist painted another one, the attorney came to see it, liked what he saw, and purchased it.
The second painting has few distinctions from the first. Painting 2 features the four original banners with some edits to the second and fourth banners. When Barnes produced the new painting, he made minor changes to the dates on the second banner. The reference to “Friday and Sat Oct. 1, 19” in the first painting, appears as “Friday and Saturday Night” in the second painting. The fourth banner reads, “Listen to WMPG,” re-introducing the reference to Gaye’s initials. The fifth banner advertising his album is not included in Painting 2.
A handwritten inscription appears on the back of the canvas that reads: “This painting is an original reproduction of another with the same image and was painted on special commission.” The notation is dated “9/27/76” and signed “Ernie Barnes.”
Years ago, the painting had a rare and significant outing when “The Sugar Shack” was included in a group exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery in London. Curated by Patrine Archer-Straw, David A. Bailey, and Richard J. Powell, “Back to Black: Art, Cinema and the Racial Imaginary” (June 7-Sept. 4 2005) featured more than 40 artists from the United States, Britain, and the Caribbean.
Works by some of the most critically acclaimed Black contemporary artists and filmmakers of the time were on view—such as Romare Bearden, Dawoud Bey, Vanley Burke, Elizabeth Catlett, Haile Gerima, David Hammons, Barkley L. Hendricks, Horace Ové, Joe Overstreet, Gordon Parks, Adrian Piper, Faith Ringgold, and Charles White—and Barnes was among them.
William O. Perkins on loaning “The Sugar Shack” to MFA Houston: “This is such a great masterpiece. I think others should be able to come see it, take a look at it, ask questions. Why did he paint the figures this way? What was the story about? What was it like back then?”
Painting No. 2: Ernie Barnes, “The Sugar Shack,” 1976 (acrylic on canvas). | Collection of William O. Perkins III and Lara Perkins. © Ernie Barnes Family Trust
SOLD TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER
MORE THAN A DOZEN YEARS PASSED before Painting 2 was featured in another exhibition. In the years leading up to the Christie’s sale, the second version of “The Sugar Shack” was included in several museum and gallery shows.
The North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh showcased the painting in a survey exhibition called “The North Carolina Roots of Artist Ernie Barnes,” which was on view from 2018-19. The painting was also highlighted at the California African American Museum (CAAM) in Los Angeles, where it was displayed behind a velvet rope in “Ernie Barnes: A Retrospective” (2019).
UTA Artist Space in Beverly Hills (“Ernie Barnes: Liberating Humanity From Within,” 2020) and Andrew Kreps Gallery in New York, N.Y. (“>“Ernie Barnes,” 2021) also exhibited “The Sugar Shack,” in an exhibition organized in collaboration with Ales Ortuzar.
When Painting 2 was on view at CAAM, the promotional materials and exhibition label stated the work was on loan from the collection of Jeannie and Jim Epstein. He is a retired attorney in Los Angeles and former law partner of Payson. Following Payson’s death, Epstein obtained “The Sugar Shack” and other Barnes paintings owned by the attorney.
The Epsteins loaned “The Sugar Shack” to the exhibitions, including the show at the Andrew Kreps Gallery, where it was not for sale. However, by the time exhibition closed, Painting 2 was sold to another party. The new owner consigned the painting for sale at Christie’s. The auction house described the lot as being from an “Important American Collection.”
When the lot opened, the auctioneer said 22 interested parties were on the phones ready to bid on “The Sugar Shack.” Soon the competition was between two bidders, vying back and forth. Ultimately, after more than 10 minutes of intense bidding, Perkins prevailed. “The Sugar Shack” hammered at $13 million, selling for a final price of $15,275,000, with Buyer’s Premium fees included.
The staggering result established a new auction record that exponentially smashed Barnes’s previous record, which was $550,000 (established the year before in 2021, when the 1978 painting “Ballroom Soul” sold at Christie’s). For the first time, a work by Barnes surpassed $1 million at auction. Estimated to sell for $150,000-$200,000, “The Sugar Shack” climbed to a whopping 76 times the high estimate.
Jan. 25, 2023: Eddie Murphy appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! about six month after “The Sugar Shack” (Painting 2) set a huge new record at auction for Ernie Barnes. Murphy (who owns Painting 1) said, “I have that painting now, ‘The Sugar Shack.’… I have the real one.” | Video by Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Following the auction, Perkins gave several media interviews. An energy trader, hedge fund manager, and professional poker player, he said owning “The Sugar Shack” was a childhood dream, he would have paid a lot more, and he planned to loan the painting to a museum. He wanted “to let other people connect with it. It means a lot to America, and it definitely means a lot to Black America,” Perkins told Bloomberg.
About six months later, Murphy gave his own interview. Murphy, who rarely speaks to the press, made the rounds to promote his Netflix movie “You People.” During an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show, “The Sugar Shack” came up. After talking about the movie, Murphy went on to regale the host with stories about his friend Arsenio Hall, jokes he’s made over the years about Michael Jackson, and spending two weeks at Rick James’s house back in the day. At one point, toward the end of the conversation, Kimmel asked him about a painting. “You had the painting from the beginning of ‘Good Times’?” the host asked.
(Murphy’s painting was not featured on “Good Times,” but did grace the cover of Gaye’s album. The actor/comedian did not correct Kimmel.)
“I have that painting now, ‘The Sugar Shack.’ The duplicate of that painting… Ernie Barnes who painted the original, uh painted the duplicate and the duplicate just sold at Christie’s for $16 million [sic] for the duplicate,” Murphy said. “I have the real one. I think I paid 50 grand for that picture from Marvin. After Marvin Gaye passed away. I bought it from his estate.”
Eddie Murphy on Jimmy Kimmel Live!: “I have that painting now, ‘The Sugar Shack.’ “I have the real one. I think I paid 50 grand for that picture from Marvin (Gaye). I bought it from his estate.”
Collector William (Bill) O. Perkins and his wife Lara Perkins are shown visiting “The Sugar Shack” by Ernie Barnes at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in 2022. After winning a fierce bidding war and buying the painting for $15.3 million, an auction record, Perkins loaned the work (Painting 2) to the museum in 2022 and it has returned again this month. Perkins said, “This is such a great masterpiece. I think others should be able to come see it, take a look at it, ask questions. Why did he paint the figures this way? What was the story about? What was it like back then?” | Video by MFA Houston
CELEBRATING 50 YEARS
SINCE TAKING POSSESSION of “The Sugar Shack” Perkins has made good on his word to share the iconic painting with the public. He has generously loaned the work to several museums in the state of Texas where he lives. The first stop was at the MFA Houston, where it was on view for about six months (June 15, 2022-Jan 2, 2023). After an appearance in “Ernie Barnes: Where Music and Soul Live” (Feb. 15-April 1, 2023) at UTA Artist Space in Beverly Hills, Calif., the painting returned to Texas, where it was showcased at the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin for one year (Nov 7, 2023-Nov 10, 2024).
More recently, “The Sugar Shack” was displayed in Barnes’s home state of North Carolina, courtesy of Perkins. He loaned the painting to The Mint Museum in Charlotte, where it was shown for six months through June 30, 2025.
A few days ago, the painting returned to MFA Houston, where a new installation of “The Sugar Shack,” alongside “Oh joy! Long time no see” (2023) by Houston-based artist Alexis Pye, opened on Sept. 10.
Now a major milestone is on the horizon. Long overdue, widespread acknowledgement of Barnes and “The Sugar Shack” has arrived nearly half a century after the artist made the paintings. Rodriguez said plans to celebrate the 50th anniversary of “The Sugar Shack” are still being finalized. Various events, tributes, exhibitions, and a film are expected.
Clarence “Coodie” Simmons and Chike Ozah are the Emmy-nominated directors behind “Jeen-Yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy.” The two followed Kanye West for years, accumulating endless footage of the rapper and designer. They were on hand, two decades ago, when West met up with Barnes and commissioned him to make a 2005 painting inspired by his survival of a near-fatal car accident. The filmmakers, who are known as Coodie and Chike, subsequently visited Barnes several times in his studio and interviewed the artist about his life and work.
“He got sick right after that,” Coodie told The New York Times. Barnes and the filmmakers had talked about collaborating on a feature film, according to the Times. After Barnes died, Coodie and Chike continued to pursue the project, spending another 15-plus years gathering insights and reflections from those who knew the artist and collected his paintings. Titled “Who is Ernie Barnes?,” the film is scheduled to be released next year.
Rodriguez said the anniversary would include programming at multiple venues across the nation. It is unlikely, however, that the record-breaking version of “The Sugar Shack” would travel for these occasions, due to insurance concerns, she said. Her top priority is returning to North Carolina for a celebration at the Durham Armory where Barnes’s vision for “The Sugar Shack” first took hold.
“Our goal is to celebrate the painting, of course, and to celebrate the importance of Ernie Barnes and the cultural moment of it,” Rodriguez said. “Because I’ve heard people say it’s the Black ‘Mona Lisa,’ which is true. It’s something very important and we want to build on that.” CT
FIND MORE about Ernie Barnes on his website and Instagram, and learn more about the Ernie Barnes Legacy Project here
Aug. 7, 2025: Filmmaker Coodie Simmons appeared on Sway’s Universe last month and part of his conversation focused on Ernie Barnes and the documentary he is making about the artist with Chike Ozah, under their production company Creative Control. Coodie called Barnes a unicorn and described working on the project as a milestone moment in his career. He recalled meeting and interviewing Barnes and recounted what the artist said about “The Sugar Shack” painting. “Him and Marvin Gaye was playing basketball and after the game he showed Marvin, he said like, ‘Marvin, I did this painting.’ Marvin was like, “Let me take it. Let me show Barry (Gordy),” Coodie said. “He took it over to Barry. (Barnes) said, ‘He ain’t talked to Marvin in like months.’ So then he was like, so he started the new one.” | Video by Sway’s Universe
BOOKSHELF
“From Pads to Palette” (1995) is an autobiographical volume by Ernie Barnes that chronicles the artist transition from football to art. Two children’s books tell the story of the artist’s life, “Between the Lines: How Ernie Barnes Went from the Football Field to the Art Gallery” and “Pigskins to Paintbrushes: The Story of Football-Playing Artist Ernie Barnes,” written and illustrated by Don Tate. Also consider, “Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life” authored by collector Bill Perkins.
