Record-breaking painting: Warhol's Marilyn is the most expensive 20th century work ever

It is a Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol that is themost expensive artwork of the 20th century: Shot Sage Blue Marilyn was in fact sold at auction by Christie ’s for a record price of $195 million, or 184 million euros. Estimated at up to $200 million, the portrait sold after only four minutes, breaking the record for the most expensive 20th-century artwork ever, which had been achieved in 2015 by Pablo Picasso’s Women of Algiers, which cost $179.4 million.

Shot sage blue Marilyn, measuring three feet by three feet, was created by Warhol in 1964, two years after Marilyn’s passing, from a photograph of her. From this canvas portrait that has become iconic, four more versions were made after that year, with only the colors changed. The record-breaking work features a platinum-blond Marilyn with blue eye shadow and red lipstick on her lips. According to the American press, the painting, from the collection of dealers Thomas and Doris Ammann, was purchased by Larry Gagosian, but it is not known whether for himself or on behalf of a client.

Prior to the auction Alex Rotter, chairman of 20th and 21st Century Art at Christie’s, 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. Next to Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Picasso’s Les Demoiselle d’Avignon, it is one of the greatest paintings of all time."

All proceeds will be donated to the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation in Zurich.

Image: Andy Warhol, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn (1964). Photo by Christie’s

Record-breaking painting: Warhol's Marilyn is the most expensive 20th century work ever

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