Andy Warhol‘s iconic 1964 painting of Marilyn Monroe titled Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, has officially been sold for $195 million USD by Christie’s. In just under four minutes, the painting was acquired by an unknown buyer, making it the highest-priced 20th-century art piece ever sold.
Christie’s specialist Alex Rotter told the New York Times, “We did sell the most expensive painting of the 20th century. This is a big achievement.” The painting which is a 40-inch-by-40-inch piece, has eclipsed the previous Basquiat skull painting sold at Sotheby’s in 2017 for $110.5 million USD and Warhol’s own car crash painting which sold for $105.4 million USD in 2013.
Ahead of the auction, Rotter said, “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn is the absolute pinnacle of American Pop. The painting transcends the genre of portraiture, superseding 20th century art and culture. Standing alongside Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, and Picasso’s Les Demoiselle d’Avignon, Warhol’s Marilyn is one of the greatest paintings of all time.” Christie’s confirms that this piece is “one of the rarest and most transcendent images in existence” and prior to the sale, estimated the price to be near the $200 million USD region.
The painting was sold at Christie’s charity auction where all proceeds go towards the Switzerland-based Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation Zurich, which works to establish healthcare and education programmes for children around the world.
Take a look at the painting above.
In other art news, Sotheby’s will auction Virgil Abloh’s “EFFLORESCENCE” desk.
The popular phrase, ‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure’ has really taken new resonance in the art world lately. Where one man found a rare Ming Dynasty artifactat an estate sale in Connecticut, another person in Massachusetts similarly unexpectedly bought an Albrecht Dürer drawing that is now worth millions. Add the work of Yoshitomo Nara in the mix.
Terrelle Brown, a 22-year-old college student from Wheaton, Illinois was browsing a local Goodwill just doing a usual trip of thrifting when he stumbled upon an ashtray depicting a familiar girl smoking a cigarette. Brown didn’t hesitate to purchase the object for $10 USD and was elated to find out that it was an original Nara work from 2002, titled Too Young To Die.
“I hopped in the car and started looking at eBay prices, and I was like, ‘This is unreal’,” Brown said in a phone interview with Artnet News. “It’s like it’s an industry plant,” he jokingly added. Brown currently runs his own shop via TikTok where he sells rare thrift finds, like the Nara piece, which he flipped for $2,860 on eBay — a nearly 30,000 percent gain.
The industry plant joke is interesting to note, because Brown isn’t the only person to have spotted the Nara piece in an unassuming shop. Several other TikTokers in Los Angeles and Arizona have also been reported to have discovered their own, but instead of selling the piece, they are patiently waiting as Nara’s market appeal continues to skyrocket.
Sotheby’s upcoming “The Now” Evening Auction will be led by a unique work of art by the late visionary artist and designer Virgil Abloh.
Most recently celebrated in a melancholic and uplifting exhibition at Fondation Louis Vuitton, the desk being auctioned comes from Abloh’s “EFFLORESCENCE” series — first introduced at Paris’ Galerie Kreo in 2019 – and is expected to bring in roughly $120,000-180,000 USD. Proceeds from the lot will benefit the The Virgil Abloh Foundation – newly established to continue Abloh’s philosophy to create pathways for greater equity and inclusion across luxury, streetwear and beyond.
“To me, design always has the inherent idea of being a bridge from the past, with an eye towards the future,” Abloh once said. A sentiment that Sotheby’s aims to further promote through a lot featuring a number of prominent and emerging artists, such as Julie Mehretu, Kerry James Marshall, Amoako Boafo, Banksy and many more.
The Now Evening Auction will commence in New York on May 18 at 6pm ET.
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