Monroe portrait sells for $195 million, setting 20th century art auction record
Author: Zhu Jieshu
On the evening of May 9, New York time, Andy Warhol’s classic work “Shooting Marilyn (Sage Blue)” was sold at Christie’s in New York for $195 million, setting a record for the highest price of a 20th century art auction. , second only to Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi”, which sold for $450 million in 2017, making it the second-highest-priced painting in auction history.
The sale of Shooting Marilyn (Sage Blue) also kicked off the 2022 spring auction. In the next two weeks, Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips will launch works with a total value of more than 2 billion US dollars in New York auctions. It is worth looking forward to how the art market will perform in the future.
Probably one of the most famous images of contemporary art
Shooting a Marilyn (Sage Blue), which set a record at auction, may be one of the most famous images of contemporary art. To a certain extent, the “Marilyn Monroe” series is a symbol of the American Pop Art movement, reflecting the postwar Renaissance and celebrity culture, as well as the optimistic and maverick zeitgeist of the time.
The sudden death of Hollywood darling Marilyn Monroe on August 5, 1962 touched Andy Warhol as an artist. He has always used popular images as his creative material, and Monroe’s glamorous and moving image, coupled with the tragic color contained in it, has become his source of inspiration. Warhol carefully selected the editing material of a promotional photo of Monroe in the movie “The Waterfall”, and performed it repeatedly in the form of silkscreen prints.
Warhol recalls: “I started making silkscreen prints in August 1962, and I was very excited by the simplicity and adventure of the process. My early experiments with silkscreens included Troy Donahoe and Warren. Beatty’s head, and later Marilyn Monroe died at the same time, and I wanted to create a silkscreen of her beautiful face, one of the first “Marilyn” works.”
These early works depict the faces of the figures in bright colors, with slightly skewed features. Two years later, Warhol again used Marilyn Monroe’s face as the subject of his creation, “Shooting Marilyn (Sage Blue)” is one of five works in a series created in 1964. During this period, he adopted a new method of coloring, and the effect was perfect day by day. Using a positive acetate plate, Warhol subtly aligns the hand-painted portion with a layer of screen-printed color, so that lines and colors are seamlessly connected to create a crisp, clear light and shade effect.
Warhol’s extreme rigor and meticulous approach did not last long, after which he returned to more casual coloring techniques. As such, Shooting at Marilyn (Sage Blue) is a rare masterpiece in the artist’s quest for perfect technique.
Another legend surrounding “Shooting Marilyn (Sage Blue)” is that in September 1964, artist Dorothy Pod pulled out a pistol at Warhol’s studio “Silver Factory”. Several of Warhol’s “Marilyn Monroe” shots. Afterwards, the parties recalled that the whole incident originated from a word game. At the time, Warhol asked Pod: “Can I shoot you?” Because “shoot” can be understood as both taking a picture and shooting, Pod responded, “Yes, but I also Shoot you.” At the time, the bullet passed through four of the five works, from which they were named.
Dangerous games take place one after another in the Silver Factory, becoming a legendary footnote of the era. Regarding this series of works, Warhol himself once said candidly: “I see Marilyn Monroe as an ordinary person. As for whether there is any symbolic meaning to painting her in such bright colors: it is beauty, and she is beautiful, beautiful. Of course, the colors are beautiful and eye-catching, and that’s it.”
Witness the ups and downs of the art market
The “Shooting Marilyn” series is one of Andy Warhol’s most unique works. It is highly sought after and loved by collectors in the art circle. It also has a legendary market transaction history, which has also witnessed the growth of the art market. Variety.
In 1967, newsprint tycoon Peter Brant bought Shooting Marilyn (Light Blue) for $5,000 at the time.
In 1989, “Shooting Marilyn (Red)” appeared at the auction (the bullet hole in this work was in Monroe’s left eyebrow, which had been restored at that time) and sold for $4.1 million, setting a record at the time. Highest auction price for a Warhol work. Currently, the work is held by Greek tycoon Philip Niarchos.
In 1998, Condé Nast tycoon and collector SI Newhouse sold “Shooting Marilyn (Orange)” for $17.3 million at auction, with a high estimate of $6 million at the time. Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin bought the work privately for about $200 million after the collector died in 2017, according to people familiar with the matter.
“Shooting Marilyn (Turquoise)” was also on the art market, when billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen bought it for $80 million in 2007.
And this “Shooting Marilyn (Sage Blue)” was bought by siblings Thomas and Doris Ammann from the collector SINewhouse about 40 years ago. The sibling duo co-founded the gallery in Zurich, Switzerland in 1977, Thomas died in 1993, and Doris passed away in 2021. As a result, their collections were able to return to the art market.
On May 9, New York time, at Christie’s “Thomas and Doris Ammann Collection Evening Sale”, “Shooting Marilyn (Sage Blue)” sold for $195 million. It is reported that the auction attracted collectors from 29 countries and regions to actively participate in the bidding. The whole auction recorded a total turnover of 317.8 million US dollars, and the turnover was as high as 98% in terms of amount, 94% and 68% in terms of number of pieces. of lots sold at higher than pre-sale estimates.
Alex Rotter, Chairman of Christie’s 20th and 21st Century Art Department, commented: “The record-breaking sale of Warhol’s iconic Marilyn portrait from the Thomas and Doris Ammann Collection is a testament to the power, dynamism and overall integrity of today’s art market. A testament to the level of excitement. This sale is a testament to the enormous influence of Andy Warhol and his profound influence on the art world, pop culture and society.”
According to the Artnet Art Price Database, works by Warhol will fetch $347.6 million at auction in 2021, down 34 percent from their 2015 peak. On the one hand, this is due to the gradual drying up of the supply of Pop artists in the art market, and on the other hand, it also reflects the transfer of artistic taste to a younger generation of artists.
Insiders said that the auction of “Shooting Marilyn” is an in-depth “test of the waters” for the current art market. Although Shooting Marilyn (Sage Blue) sold just below its $200 million estimate and well below the “ideal” price of $250 million to $300 million that many dealers had been hoping for. The results of this auction are still regarded by many people in the circle as “people have cast a vote of confidence in art as a long-term value preservation method in the turbulent market cycle”.
In the context of changes in the international situation and financial markets, how will the art market, another investment option, perform? This “Shooting Marilyn (Sage Blue)” seems to have given the market a “reassurance”.
In the next two weeks, Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips will launch works with a total value of more than 2 billion US dollars in New York auctions.
Among them, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s “Untitled” created in 1982 will be auctioned at Phillips on May 18, New York time. The current official estimate is 70 million US dollars, accepting ether (ETH) or bitcoin Coin (BTC) for payment, making it the highest-valued lot in history that accepts virtual currency for payment. Pablo Picasso’s 1932 “Reclining Nude” will appear at Sotheby’s Spring Auction on May 17, local time, with an estimated price of more than $60 million. In addition, star auctions by artists such as Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Marc Rothko, and Francis Bacon will also appear in this year’s New York Spring Auction.