Andy Warhol’s 1964 portrait of Marilyn Monroe sold for $195 million at Christie’s Monday night, becoming the most expensive work of American art ever sold.
The portraits were based on a promotional photo of Monroe from the film"Niagara." The portraits became even more famous when, shortly after they were completed, a woman walked into Warhol's Factory studio with a gun and shot at a stack of four of them. The"sage blue" painting escaped damaged and the others were repaired. But the shooting added to their allure and became part of their titles.
The version sold Monday was owned by a Swiss art dealer family, the Ammanns, who have owned it since the early 1980s. The proceeds will go to charity. The Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation in Zurich said it will use the funds to support health and education programs for children worldwide. Aside from breaking the record for the most expensive work of American art ever auctioned, it is the second-most expensive work of art ever sold at auction, behind Leonardo da Vinci's"Salvator Mundi" that sold at Christie's in 2017 for $450 million and ahead of Picasso's"Les Femmes d'Alger," which sold for $179 million in 2015.
Unlike most hyper-priced works sold at auction,"Marilyn" was not sold with a guarantee, which is a minimum price at which a third party or the auction house agrees to purchase the work. Dealers say the sellers wanted to maximize the charitable proceeds, and guarantees typically require sellers to give up some of the price upside above the guaranteed amount.
"This was a once-in-a-generation chance," Fabricant said."Pieces like this just don't come around that often."
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Andy Warhol’s $195 Million Portrait Of Marilyn Monroe Breaks Record For Most Expensive American ArtworkI am a Texas native covering breaking news out of New York City. I was previously an editorial assistant at the Forbes London bureau. Follow me on Twitter reporterfield.
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