Warhol’s Marilyn portrait sells for world record $195m
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Pop artist Andy Warhol’s famed 1964 silk-screen portrait of Marilyn Monroe has sold for $195m, becoming the most expensive 20th-century artwork ever sold at a public auction.
Shot Sage Blue Marilyn is one of a series of portraits Warhol made of the actress following her death in 1962 and has become one of pop art’s best-known piece.
It sold for exactly $195.04 million, including fees, in just four minutes in a crowded room at Christie’s headquarters in New York on Monday. Its estimate was $200m.
“‘Shot Sage Blue Marilyn’ is the absolute pinnacle of American Pop,” Alex Rotter, chairman of 20th and 21st Century art at Christie’s, said in a statement announcing the auction. “The painting transcends the genre of portraiture, superseding 20th century art and culture.”
The sale beat the previous record for a 20th-century work, Pablo Picasso’s Women of Algiers , which sold for $179.4m in 2015.
Warhol based the work on a promotional photo of Monroe from the 1953 film Niagara, laying bright colours over her eyes, hair and lips.
Warhol died in 1987.
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So here's an idea, instead of seizing yachts for which there are limited buyers and will take years to sell, seize art works which Christie can flog in 4 minutes.
... an obscene display of wealth by the purchaser.
I was outbid, dammit.
Only $195 million? I'll take two!
It is good to know that all of the proceeds of the sale will be donated by the seller to a foundation that supports health care and educational programs for children.
I think that is a great move, kudos to the seller.
They played the movie "Niagara" here recently - could it have been coincidental or intentional? If the painting has been purchased by a museum so the public can come and view that iconic work, I'd say it's a good thing, but if by an individual who will hoard it for personal viewing only, It would be disappointing. The fact that an individual has that much money in order to purchase it as an investment or otherwise is as ugly a thing as the huge yachts owned by Russian oligarchs, while at the same time there are so many people starving in the world, and so many without a roof over their heads.