$195M Marilyn Portrait Sale Makes Andy Warhol the Most Expensive US Artist

Andy Warhol’s popular portrait of Marilyn Monroe has become the most costly twentieth century artwork, additionally the highest-priced by an United States musician, becoming offered at auction. The popular artwork named Shot Sage Blue Marilyn ended up being offered in nyc for $195 million on Monday.

Christie’s auction household marketed the 1964 silkscreen artwork to an unnamed bidder. It absolutely was certainly one of 35 things on the block through the number of art dealers Thomas Ammann, whom passed away in 1993, along with his sis Doris Ammann, whom passed away in 2021. The collection, including work by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Cy Twombly, Ann Craven and Alberto Giacometti, offered for an overall total of $317.8 million (or $273 million after auctioneer charges). Profits is certainly going toward Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation Zurich, which aids healthcare and academic programs for underprivileged young ones.

Warhol’s immediately identifiable 1964 silkscreen picture reveals star and singer Marilyn Monroe in radiant yellowish, purple, green and blue. It really is element of a few differently-colored variations of the identical picture, which bear title because a collection of all of them had been shot by Dorothy Podher, certainly one of Warhol’s contemporaries into the nyc art scene.  

The past most high-priced twentieth century work ended up being Pablo Picasso’s Les Femmes d’Alger (variation “O”). As well as the past most high-priced United States musician ended up being Basquiat for their 1982 artwork Untitled. While Shot Sage Blue Marilyn ended up being the most costly offered at auction, The Art Newspaper states that another Marilyn formerly marketed for $250 million in an exclusive purchase. The most costly artwork previously, at the same time, happens to be Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, which fetched $450.3 million at auction in 2017.