The ever vigilant William Poundstone has connected the dots on the Broad Foundation’s recent acquisitions and the sale of Peter Norton’s Murakami last Fall at Christie’s:

Eli Broad’s foundation has acquired the classic early (1999) Takashi Murakami, DOB in the Strange Forest, formerly owned by Peter Norton. Blum & Poe had sold it to Norton shortly after its creation. It’s described as the “blue” DOB, one of an edition of three with two artist’s proofs. The sculpture’s auction last year at Christies, along with other prize Norton works, was regretted as a loss for Los Angeles. The Murakami’s central creature, DOB, is generally understood to be a self-portrait as Mickey Mouse. The Christies catalog copy ingeniously also links DOB to Sonic Hedgehog, Ito Jakuchu, the “Little Boy” atomic bomb, and the great Takehisa Yumeiji, a 20th-century painter known for his still lifes of toxic mushrooms. DOB in the Strange Forest sold last November for $2,770,500. Now, as the British would say, Broad has “saved” it for Los Angeles.

Broad Buys Murakami “Strange Forest” (LACMA on Fire/Artinfo)