Who wouldn’t want this Original Atari Combat Two Oil Painting?

Browsing online this morning, I came across this stunning auction on eBay for an original Atari Combat Two Oil Painting by commercial freelance illustrator Michel Allaire. I had followed some of Allaire’s other auctions lately, this Star Wars one (auction removed) is pretty great, and was slowly turning into a fan. But this 16.5 x 21 oil painting catapulted his work into my regular online watch list. While I might not be able to afford his work, they are well into the 5 digit range. Just looking at them fires my imagination and inspires me.

This is what a good illustrator should do, and while it is easy for things like Star Wars, Atari could make it challenging. Their simple graphics needed to be represented as something more. An illustration of what you should see in your imagination. This is exactly what Allaire did for the unreleased Combat Two. A game that, as an original Combat fan, I would have loved. Sadly the game, never saw the light of day back in the 1980s (video game crash of 1983), although it would get all manners of releases in the new millennium.

So if you have some discretionary cash lying around and would like to own and original Atari Combat Two Oil Painting, or perhaps just gift it to me, check out the auction (auction removed). It is filled with history on the piece and the artist, and is still running for 19 more days.

It is on the pricey side at $42,000, but that is not bad when you consider this is a piece of history. Also, shipping is only $11.15, and that is very reasonable. You might want to make sure they add some insurance when they mail it.