Warhol's 'Marilyn' auction nabs $195M; most for US artist

Andy Warhol’s silk-screen portrait of Marilyn Monroe sells for record $195million at auction – the most EVER for an American artist – after eclipsing Basquiat’s $110.5m ‘Untitled’ skull face

• Pop artist Andy Warhol’s famed 1964 silk-screen portrait of Marilyn Monroe sold for $195 million at auction on Monday, a record for a work by an American artist 
• Shot Sage Blue Marilyn is one in a series of portraits Warhol made of the actress following her death in 1962
• The piece has since become one of pop art’s best-known pieces
• Held in the collection of Swiss art dealers Thomas and Doris Ammann, it was sold by Christie’s at an auction in New York
• The painting sold for a hammer price of $170 million Added fees gave it a final price of $195 million 
• Artwork is built on a promotional photo of Monroe from the 1953 film Niagara screened with bright colors over her eyes, hair and lips
• Monroe was one of Hollywood’s best-known stars before her death of an overdose at her home in Los Angeles in August 1962

Andy Warhol’s ‘Shot Sage Blue Marilyn’ sold for a cool $195 million on Monday, making the iconic portrait of Marilyn Monroe the most expensive work by a U.S. artist ever sold at auction.

The 1964 silkscreen image shows Monroe in vibrant close-up – hair yellow, eyeshadow blue and lips red – on a rich blue background. 

It’s also the most expensive piece from the 20th century ever auctioned, according to Christie’s auction house in New York, where the sale took place.

In a statement, Christie’s described the 40-inch by 40-inch portrait as ‘one of the rarest and most transcendent images in existence.’ 

‘Shot Sage Blue Marilyn’ is a 1964 Andy Warhol silkscreen of Marilyn Monroe, has been sold at auction for $195million 

Christie’s auctioneer ends the auction of ‘Shot Sage Blue Marilyn’ by Andy Warhol for $170 million dollars during an Evening Sale of works from The Collection of Thomas and Doris Amman at Christie’s Auction House in New York on Monday night

Staffers work phones for bids on ‘Shot Sage Blue Marilyn’ by Andy Warhol during the auction

A Christie’s auctioneer claps after ending the auction as the painting sold for a record $195m

The Warhol sale unseated the previous record holder and another modern master, Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose 1982 painting ‘Untitled’ of a skull-like face sold for a record $110.5 million at Sotheby’s in 2017.

Dozens of Christie associates were in the room clutching their phones as they took orders from potential buyers. 

The auction house owned by French magnate Francois Pinault said in a brief press conference that the winning bid for the ‘Marilyn’ was made from within the room. 

Christie’s said an unnamed buyer made the purchase Monday night.

Andy Warhol stands in front of his double portrait of the Hollywood film star Marilyn Monroe at the Tate Gallery

When the auction was announced earlier this year, they estimated it could go for as much as $200 million.

‘It’s an amazing price,’ said Alex Rotter, chairman of Christie’s 20th and 21st century art department. ‘Let it sink in, it’s quite something.’

‘Shot Sage Blue Marilyn is the absolute pinnacle of American Pop and the promise of the American Dream encapsulating optimism, fragility, celebrity and iconography all at once,’ Rotter said. ‘The painting transcends the genre of portraiture, superseding 20th century art and culture.’ 

At an unveiling at Christie’s headquarters, Rotter said the portrait stood alongside Sandro Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’, Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ and Picasso’s ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’ as ‘categorically one of the greatest paintings of all time.’ 

‘This is where we wanted to be, clearly,’ said Guillaume Cerutti, CEO of Christie’s. ‘It proves we are in a very resilient art market.’

Shot Sage Blue Marilyn is one in a series of portraits Warhol made of the actress following her death in 1962 

The 1964 painting Shot Sage Blue Marilyn by Andy Warhol is carried into Christie’s showroom in New York City on Sunday

The Evening Sale of works from The Collection of Thomas and Doris Amman at Christie’s Auction House in New York, on Monday night

WARHOL COINED PHRASE ’15 MINUTES OF FAME’ 

Born in Pittsburgh in 1928, Andy Warhol worked as a successful commercial illustrator until his art began to take off during the 1950s.

His pop art images of mundane objects or well-known photographs of celebrities initially shocked art fans, but quickly took off.

He created a New York City studio, The Factory, which became known as a mecca for movers-and-shakers of the Big Apple, including David Bowie, Halston, Debbie Harry, Madonna, Mick Jagger and Keith Haring.

Much of The Factory’s artwork was sexually-explicit, and the studio is credited for helping move homosexuality and transgenderism into the main stream.

Warhol was out of the closet and proud before the gay liberation movement took off, and was almost killed after being shot by radical feminist Valerie Solanis at The Factory in 1968. Solanis sought revenge after Warhol had refused to produce a script she’d written.

Warhol also coined the term ’15 minutes of fame,’ writing in a program in 1968: ‘In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.’

Despite his burgeoning success throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Warhol was deeply-insecure. He had surgery on his nose to improve its appearance. His boyfriend Jon Gould died of AIDS aged just 33 in 1986.

The proceeds of the sale will go to the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation Zurich, which put the painting up for auction. The foundation aims to help children with health care and educational programs.

Warhol began creating silkscreens of Monroe following the actress’s death from a drug overdose aged just 36 in August 1962.

The pop artist produced five portraits of Monroe, all equal in size with different colored backgrounds, in 1964.

This particular painting has been exhibited in museums around the world.

The work is built on a promotional photo of Monroe from the 1953 film Niagara, directed by Henry Hathaway, screened with bright colors over her eyes, hair and lips.

Warhol’s silk-screen work is part of a group of his portraits of Monroe that became known as the ‘Shot’ series after a visitor to his Manhattan studio, known as ‘The Factory,’ apparently fired a gun at them, although ‘Shot Sage Blue Marilyn’ was not struck by a bullet.

According to pop-art folklore, four of them gained notoriety after a female performance artist by the name of Dorothy Podber asked Warhol if she could shoot a stack of the portraits. 

Warhol said yes, thinking she meant she would photograph the works. Instead, Podber took out a gun and fired a bullet through the forehead of Monroe’s image.

The story goes that the bullet pierced four of the five canvasses, with Warhol barring Podber from The Factory and later repairing the paintings — the ‘Shot’ series.

Monroe was one of Hollywood’s best-known stars before her death of an overdose at her home in Los Angeles on August 4, 1962.

This particular painting was produced two years after the death of the glamorous star and beats the previous record for a 20th century work, Pablo Picasso’s ‘Women of Algiers,’ which was brought for $179.4 million in 2015.

The all-time record for any work of art from any period sold at auction is held by Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Salvator Mundi,’ which sold in November, 2017 for $450.3 million. 

American artist Andy Warhol (1928-1987) pictured in 1981 sitting in a red velvet chair

Why, for once, it’s actually worth the crazy price tag 

By Richard Polsky for the Daily Mail

When a painting sells for a vast sum, it is hard to separate the headlines from its value as a work of art.

Certainly, $195 million — is eye-watering, but a surprising number of people can afford it. 

Are they just buying into hype and marketing, though? In this case, no. It is a truly great painting. 

All the Shot Marilyns are beautiful but Shot Sage Blue Marilyn is the most beautiful of all. Although quite modest in size, it has ‘wall power’ — it exudes energy and pulls you in like a magnet. 

Part of that power lies in the colours Warhol used. His genius for juxtaposing bright colours is what makes the painting so arresting. 

With Roy Lichtenstein, he founded the Pop-Art movement, which used vibrant colours rather than realistic ones; hence Marilyn’s bubblegum-pink skin. 

There is also poignancy to it. Blue can be viewed as sad, or wonderful — like a summer sky. Marilyn’s death in 1962, aged 36, was a tragedy but here he dwells on the wonderful. 

Her yellow hair looks almost stuck on, and the blue eyeshadow, red lips and that pink skin give the painting an artificial quality, perhaps reflecting the fact that Marilyn epitomised the illusion of the movies. 

Hollywood had taken the young brunette Norma Jeane Mortenson and confected her into Marilyn Monroe, an exaggerated, artificial version of herself with platinum hair. 

The painting emphasises both her beauty and the artifice. So it is powerful in its own right and iconic because of the mystique of Marilyn. 

Warhol’s process was also unique. He printed the image on a silk screen, before pressing paint over stencils through the silk and onto the painting. 

All great art persuades you to see the world differently, and that’s what this work does. 

The Shot Marilyns have survived the test of time. Whoever buys this one will get a piece of history and timeless beauty. 

Like Marilyn, it has become an icon in its own right.

• Richard Polsky is the leading authenticator of Warhol’s work. His website is richardpolskyart.com

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