Warhol's `Marilyn' shatters auction record for an American artist
NEW YORK >> Maybe the image is not racy, like the one of Marilyn Monroe with her dress flying up in the movie “The Seven Year Itch,” but on Monday night, it became the priciest.
In under 4 minutes of bidding, Andy Warhol's 1964 silk screen of the actress's face, “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn,” sold for about $195 million to an unknown buyer at Christie's, making it the highest price achieved for any American work of art at auction.
“We did sell the most expensive painting of the 20th century,” said Christie's specialist Alex Rotter. “This is a big achievement.”
The 40-inch-square painting, a trophy given its vibrant colors and glamorous subject matter, eclipsed the previous high price of $110.5 million for a Jean-Michel Basquiat skull painting at Sotheby's in 2017 as well as Warhol's auction high for a car crash painting that sold for $105.4 million in 2013.
Monday's sale kicked off a spring auction season in a city that has only begun to return to normal after two years of the coronavirus pandemic. Christie's salesroom at Rockefeller Center was filled with the familiar faces of dealers and art advisers who clearly welcomed the opportunity to bid on bluechip artworks in person again.
“There is a lot of appetite, there is a lot of money and there is a lot of quality,” said Austrian gallerist Thaddaeus Ropac, who was at the sale. “With all these things, it should work.”
Philip Hoffman, founder of the Fine Art Group, a New York advisory company, said the upcoming two weeks of auctions could raise as much as $2 billion.
The Christie's auction was unusual in that none of the works were accompanied by a guarantee — a minimum price at which a third party or the auction house has committed to purchase the work. That is because the works were consigned by the estate of Swiss dealers (and siblings) Thomas and Doris Ammann, with all of the proceeds going toward their foundation, which supports health care and educational programs for children. The estate wanted to maximize the charitable proceeds.