Andy Warhol’s iconic Marilyn Monroe painting has sold for an eye-watering $195 million.
Shot Sage Blue Marilyn became the most expensive 20th-century art to sell at auction on Monday at Christie’s Spring Marquee Week.
The previous record was Pablo Picasso’s Les Femmes d’Alger (Version O), worth $179.4 million. That painting sold in 2015.
Warhol’s painting was the final item in the sale of The Collection of Thomas and Doris Ammann, which featured 36 lots.
So how much did that all sell for? A tidy $317.8 million.
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Multimillion-dollar artworks sold at Christie’s auction
- Cy Twombly’s Untitled, $21 million
- Robert Ryman’s Untitled, $20.1 million
- Cy Twombly’s Venere Sopra Gaeta, $16.9 million
Another record broken during the auction was for Francesco Clemente’s The Fourteen Stations, No. XI, which sold for three times more than the last for $1.86 million.
Ann Craven’s I Wasn’t Sorry, 2003 went to a new owner for $478,000, eight times more than the previous record.
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In a generous twist, the proceeds of the sale will be donated by the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation to charities that give urgent medical and educational services to kids.
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Previous Warhol record was $103 million
Christie’s 20th and 21st-century art chairman Alex Rotter said he was “very proud” of the Shot Sage Blue Marilyn result.
“This is a big achievement not just on me but just on Warhol and Marilyn,” he said.
“If you think about Warhol prices, the Warhol record was 103 million dollars for the Silver Car Crash, this almost doubled it.
“Twentieth-century works of art, American works of art, it’s the highest price ever paid, close to 200 million dollars, let it sink in, it’s quite something.”
Johanna Flaum, who heads the auction house’s Post-War & Contemporary Art department, said Thomas had a “really special relationship with Warhol”.
