Andy Warhol’s iconic portrait of Marilyn Monroe sells for a record $195 million

Pop artist Andy Warhol’s image of Marilyn Monroe, one of his best-known portraits, has broken records after selling for $195 million in New York in less than four minutes of bidding.

Warhol’s 1964 silkscreen of Marilyn Monroe, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, created after the movie star’s death two years earlier, has become the most expensive piece of 20th-century art ever sold following its auction Monday. 170 million dollars plus fees, taking the final price to 195 million dollars.

The previous record was set in 2015 when a 1955 painting by Pablo Picasso, Les Femmes d’Alger (Version O), sold for $179.4 million.

It has also become the most expensive work by an American artist ever sold at auction. The record was previously held by a 1982 skull painting by Warhol’s friend, collaborator and rival Jean-Michael Basquiat, which sold for $110.5 million in 2017.

The buyer was reportedly Larry Gagosian, an American art dealer and gallery chain owner. Shot Sage Blue Marilyn is one of a series of portraits Warhol made of Monroe after her death.

The sale of the 40 x 40-inch work at Christie’s also broke Warhol’s previous record. That had been in the hands of Silver car crash (Double Disaster) (in 2 parts) (1963), which sold for $105.4 million in 2013.

“Shot Sage Blue Marilyn is the absolute pinnacle of American pop,” said Alex Rotter, president of 20th and 21st century art at Christie’s. “The painting transcends the genre of portraiture, replacing the art and culture of the 20th century.”

The title of the painting, based on a promotional photo of Monroe from the 1953 film Niagara, refers to an incident in which a woman used a pistol to shoot four portraits of the actor in Warhol’s studio.

Shot Sage Blue Marilyn had been in the collection of Swiss art dealers Thomas and Doris Ammann. Earlier this year, George Frei, chairman of the board of the Thomas and Doris Amman Foundation, said the painting “bears witness to [Monroe’s] undiminished visual power in the new millennium.”

He added: “Marilyn the woman is gone; the dire circumstances of her life and death are forgotten. All that remains of her is the enigmatic smile that links her to another mysterious smile of a distinguished lady, the Mona Lisa”.

Monroe appeared in 29 movies, including Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Some Like It Hot. Hailed as a “sex symbol” and fashion icon, she died in 1962 of an overdose at her Los Angeles home at the age of 36. Warhol died in 1987.

Christie’s said proceeds from the sale would go to the Zurich-based Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation, which works to establish health and education programs for children around the world.

Demand for 20th-century art is at record levels, experts say. On May 16, Sotheby’s will offer 30 works that make up the rest of the Macklowe collection, including a previously unpublished Rothko and one of Warhol’s last self-portraits.

An acrimonious divorce between property developer Harry Macklowe and his ex-wife, Linda, forced the sale of the couple’s collection. The first sale of 30 works in November fetched a total of £676.1 million.

On May 18, Phillips will hold a 20th-century and contemporary art sale, with a bright orange 1982 untitled Basquiat with a budget of 70 million dollars.