The painting “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn”, painted in 1964, became the most expensive 20th century art work ever sold during public auctions.
Le Monde
Estimates were right. Expected around 200 million dollars, a famous portrait of actress Marilyn Monroe by the American Pop Art Master Andy Warhol was sold at auction 195 million dollars (185 million euros) at Christie’s, Monday May 9, in New York.
Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, a painting executed in 1964, two years after the tragic death of the Glamor icon of Hollywood, left in four minutes – at the exact price of 195.04 million dollars, fresh inclusive – in A crowded room from the seat of the Christie’s house, in the heart of Manhattan. It has become the work of art of the XX e
é> century the most expensive ever sold during public auctions.
Dozens of intermediaries of Christie’s were also in the sales hall, hanging from their phones to take the orders of buyers. The Maison d’Enuction, owned by the very great French fortune François Pinault, said during a brief press conference that the offer that had won had been made from the room.
This portrait of Marilyn Monroe broke the previous record for a work of the XX e century, the women of Algiers (version 0) of Pablo Picasso, sold at auction 179.4 million dollars in May 2015, and the lying nude of Amedeo Modigliani (170.4 million in November 2015). The absolute record – all periods combined – for a sale of auction work is held by the Salvator Mundi of Léonardo da Vinci, awarded in November 2017 for 450.3 million dollars.
The auction for a warhol belonged to Silver Car Crast (Double Disaster), a monumental canvas representing a car accident, sold $ 105 million in 2013.
a legendary incident
Painted with screen printing and acrylic ink, Shot Sage Blue Marylin is one of the five portraits of one meter in a meter in bright, saturated and contrasting colors that the artist born in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) But established in New York, had produced in 1964 from a photo for the promotion of the film Niagara in 1953. Pink face, blond hair and pronounced lipstick, the actress reveals an enigmatic smile, on a turquoise blue background .
Four of the Five Shot of 1964 took their name from an incident that make their legend. In “The Factory”, – Andy Warhol’s workshop in Manhattan – an artist on a visit, Dorothy Podber, had asked if she could “photograph” the paintings (“shoot” in English). Warhol had accepted, not understanding that she was going to release a revolver and shoot on four portraits. With the naked eye, no trace appears today of this incident on the work.
The portrait is part of a collection put up for sale by the Zurich Foundation Thomas and Doris Ammann, named after the art dealer and Swiss collector Thomas Ammann, a friend of Warhol who died of AIDS in 1993, and his sister Doris. All the products of the sale will go to this foundation, which devotes itself “to the improvement of the life of children” via health and education, according to Christie’s.