At the Christie’s auction, they sold one of the most famous works of the American artist Andy Warhol, a portrait of Marilyn Monroe Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, the auction house says.
The final price amounted to $ 195 million. According to Bloomberg, the picture was the most expensive work of the 20th century art, sold at an auction, the most expensive American work of art that participated in the auction, and the second most important work in the world sold publicly (in the first place (in the first place – The painting by Leonardo da Vinci Salvator Mundi, which left the hammer for $ 450 million).
According to the agency, the buyer was art dealer Larry Gagosyan. All income from the sale of Warhol will be transferred to the charity fund.
The picture Shot Sage Blue Marilyn was created in 1964, two years after the death of Marilyn Monroe. It is made in silk -screen technique using acrylic paint. The size of the picture is 101.6 x 101.6 cm. The work is included in a series of five portraits of Marilyn Monroe, which differ from each other. After Warhol finished the series, the incident occurred with the paintings, RBC recalls. A friend came to the artist in the studio, who asked if she could shoot in the paintings. She took advantage of the fact that the English word Shoot has several meanings, including “shoot” and “photograph”. Warhol, confident that the woman had in mind photography, gave her consent. Then she pulled out a revolver and shot towards the paintings. As a result, in the name of four of them, standing at that moment nearby, one after another, the word Shot appeared. The fifth picture stood separately and did not suffer.