(New York) Christie’s announced Monday the sale in May of a portrait of Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol estimated at 200 million dollars, which would make it the work of art of the 20and most expensive century ever sold at auction.
Posted at 11:34 a.m.
Updated at 12:03 p.m.
This is the table Shot Sage Blue Marilyn painted in 1964 by Andy Warhol, “the most important painting of the 20and century to be auctioned off in a generation,” according to a statement from Christie’s in New York.
At a press conference, Christie’s officials clarified that the famous image of Marilyn Monroe belonged to the Zurich foundation of Thomas and Doris Ammann (a brother and a sister), who will devote the proceeds of the sale “to the improving the lives of children around the world through health and education programs”.
“With 100% of the sale of a single painting going to charity, this is the highest auction for a philanthropic purpose since the collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller in 2018,” according to Christie’s .
For Georg Frei, president of the Ammann Foundation, “the image of Marilyn by Andy Warhol, certainly more famous today than the original photo from Henry Hathaway’s film Niagara, attests to its intact visual power in this new millennium”.
According to a ranking established by AFP, the absolute record for a sale of a work of art at auction is currently held by the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci, auctioned in November 2017 for $450.3 million by Christie’s in New York.
For the works of the 20and century, Women of Algiers (version 0)an oil painting by Pablo Picasso, went for $179.4 million in May 2015, again at Christie’s, in the cultural and economic capital of the United States.