"Shot Sage Blue Marylin", The Most Expensive 20th-Century Artwork

A few hours ago at Christie's auction in Manhattan, a portrait of Marilyn Monroe entitled "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" sold for $195 million (£158 million) in 4 minutes. "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" was created by Andy Warhol in 1964, 2 years after the death of Hollywood star Marilyn Monroe. This portrait is the most expensive work of an American artist to be sold at public auction until today. Christie's estimate for the sale before it was auctioned was $200 million. Pablo Picasso's "Women of Algiers" and Jean-Michel Basquiat's untitled work were sold for $179.4 million and $111 million respectively in 2015 and 2017 with prices close to that of this Warhol work. None of them has yet reached Leonardo da Vinci's record auctioned for Salvator Mundi. This work sold for $450.3 million in 2017.

Andy Warhol's silkscreen portrait series of Marilyn Monroe is known as the "Shot Series". The story tells of a visitor who shot at canvases after entering Warhol Studios in Manhattan.

Andy Warhol is one of America's most prominent artists and a forerunner of the Pop Art movement. Warhol's personal studio called "Factory" was founded in the early 1960s in Manhattan and became a haunt to gather famous people and striking artists. These silkscreen images were produced in those days when Warhol was creating images of artists, singers, actors, and celebrities on large scales. Warhol's silkscreens were so popular that some political figures of various countries commissioned him to create them. "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" is one of several silkscreen portraits Warhol created of the famous Hollywood star with pink cheeks, red lips, yellow hair, and blue eye shadow with the intention of challenging consumerism. A work from Warhol's "Double Disaster" series named "Silver Car Crash", has already sold for $105 million during the NYC auction. After the sale of Warhol's "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" nine years later, his artworks would become the most expensive 20th century artwork.

According to Alex Rotter, head of Christie's auction, "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" is the most important painting of the twentieth century.

"Andy Warhol's Marilyn is the absolute pinnacle of American Pop and the promise of the American Dream encapsulating optimism, fragility, celebrity, and iconography all at once." he said in a statement. 

Source:

• www.ndtv.com