Andy Warhol’s iconic portrait of the American sex symbol Marilyn Monroe has set a record for 20th Century paintings to sell at auction when it sold at Christie’s for $195 million USD (including buyer’s premium). “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn” was bought by the art dealer Larry Gagosian after a four minute bidding war in New York City!
The sale also made it the most expensive painting by an American artist to sell at auction. Previous to the May sale in 2022 the most expensive 20th Century painting to sell at auction was the Pablo Picasso work titled “Les Femmes d’Alger (Version O)” which sold in 2015 at Christie’s for $179.4 million.
Private art sales have sold for more than Warhol’s Marilyn work with Willem de Kooning‘s 1955 painting “Exchange” selling for a reported $300 million USD and Jackson Pollock‘s 1948 work “Number 17A” which was reported to have been sold for $200 million USD in 2015. Both of these works were sold by the American businessman and record producer David Geffen and sold to the American billionaire hedge fund manager and art collector Ken Griffin.
If you’re wondering what the most expensive painting of all time is, at auction or by private sale, it’s the Leonardo da Vinci painting titled Salvator Mundi which sold for $450.3 million in 2017. It was sold by the Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev to Badr bin Abdullah Al Saud who was said to be bidding on behalf of Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn” is one of five works in a series depicting the American actress. Andy Warhol never actually met Marilyn Monroe but he painted her many times during his career. The five “Shot” works got their name after a performance artist visiting the Warhol factory decided to shoot them. They were later repaired but kept their name.
Shot Marilyn Monroe is 40 inches or 101.6cm square, acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen and painted in 1964. The likes of Leon Kraushar, Leo Castelli, and Fred Mueller appear on the provenance list. It was being sold by the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation along with 35 other works with all proceeds from the auction to support the healthcare and education of underprivileged children worldwide.
Other notable sales from the philanthropic sale included a Cy Twombly work that sold for $16,992,500, another Twombly painting for $21,000,000, a Martin Kippenberger for $3,780,000, a Robert Ryman painting for $20,141,250, and an Andy Warhol Flowers work that went for $15,847,500. The total for the night was an impressive $317,806,490 USD.
See more on the artist with Andy Warhol Quotes, Marilyn Monroe Quotes, or Andy Warhol Biography.
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