Gentlemen prefer blondes: Warhol’s iconic Marilyn fetches $243m
Pop artist Andy Warhol’s famed 1964 silk-screen portrait of Marilyn Monroe has sold for $US170 million ($A243 million), a record for a work by an American artist sold at auction.
Andy Warhol's "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" sold for less than was estimated before the auction.(Reuters: Carlo Allegri)
Shot Sage Blue Marilyn is one in a series of portraits Warhol made of the actress following her death in 1962 and 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 on Monday. Pre-sale estimates had reached as high as $US200 million.
The sale broke the previous record for an American artwork at auction of $US110.5 million set in 2017 for a 1982 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat.
“Shot Sage Blue Marilyn is the absolute pinnacle of American Pop,” Alex Rotter, chairman of 20th and 21st Century art at Christie’s, said in a statement announcing the auction.
“The painting transcends the genre of portraiture, superseding 20th century art and culture.”
The painting is built on a promotional photo of Monroe from the 1953 film Niagara, screened with bright colors over her eyes, hair and lips.
Its title refers to an incident in which a woman shot at a stack of four Marilyn portraits in Warhol’s studio with a pistol, although Shot Sage Blue Marilyn was not struck by a bullet.
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.
Warhol died in 1987.
