More than one art world sales record was set this spring when a 1964 piece by Andy Warhol fetched a stratospheric figure at auction. The iconic artwork, ‘Shot Sage Blue Marilyn’, went under the gavel at Christie’s this month and, after a spirited bidding war, closed at $195 million.
The sale price made the silkscreen the priciest work by a U.S. artist to ever sell at auction. But the sale also registers as the most expensive 20th century artwork to sell at auction. The record for priciest artwork remains intact; that honor goes to a Da Vinci, ‘Salvator Mundi’, which fetched $450 million when it stimulated a lengthy bidding war at Christie’s in 2016.
‘Sage Shot Blue Marilyn’ was produced by Warhol in 1964. It was auctioned with 35 other pieces by the estate of philanthropist Doris Ammann; proceeds from the sale will support the Ammann Foundation’s efforts on behalf of the health and education of underprivileged children.
