Andy Warhol’s Marilyn sells for record $195 million at auction

Andy Warhol’s 1964 silk screen of Marilyn Monroe’s face, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, has sold for $195 million (€185m) to an unknown buyer at Christie’s in New York.

In less than 4 minutes of bidding, the portrait achieved the highest price for any American work of art at auction.

The famous image is a close-up portrait of Monroe, depicted in vibrant block colours, with yellow hair, blue eyeshadow and red lips on a blue background.

The previous record was held by Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose 1982 painting Untitled of a skull-like face sold for $111 million at Sotheby’s in 2017.

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Warhol’s portrait is also the most expensive piece from the 20th century to be purchased at auction, according to Christie’s auction house New York, where it was sold.

It came to Christie’s from the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation Zurich, to which all proceeds from the significant sale will go.

The foundation is dedicated to improving the lives of children globally by establishing support systems centred on providing healthcare and educational programs.

Christie’s said the piece was bought by an unnamed buyer on Monday.

“It’s an amazing price,” says Rotter, chairman of Christie’s 20th and 21st century art department.

“Let it sink in, it’s quite something.”

“This is where we wanted to be, clearly,” says Guillaume Cerutti, chief executive of Christie’s.

“It proves we are in a very resilient art market.”

Speaking ahead of the auction, Georg Frei, chairman of the board of the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation, said: “Andy Warhol’s picture of Marilyn, surely now more famous than the photograph... on which it is based, bears witness to her undiminished visual power in the new millennium.

“The spectacular portrait isolates the person and the star: Marilyn the woman is gone; the terrible circumstances of her life and death are forgotten.

“All that remains is the enigmatic smile that links her to another mysterious smile of a distinguished lady, the Mona Lisa.” – Reuters