Andy Warhol’s iconic Marilyn Monroe portrait sells for record $195m
Marilyn Monroe may have died in 1962, but she still managed to make history when her iconic portrait by Andy Warhol sold for $195m.
When Andy Warhol created his iconic portrait of Marilyn Monroe, he might not have realized it, but he was creating history. The painting sold for $195m, the highest price ever paid for a work by an American artist. It is one of four paintings Warhol made shortly after Monroe’s death in 1962. Each painting depicts her with red lips and a red background.
1 The painting, The Men In Her Life, went to an anonymous bidder on Wednesday night at the 19th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York, according to Sotheby’s.
The Men In Her Life is a 1962 painting by Andy Warhol. It is a silkscreen painting, one of four based on a publicity photograph from the 1953 film Niagara. It was sold at auction on May 8, 2012 for $41,545,000 at Christie’s in New York City.
Like many of Warhol’s works from this period (the early 1960s), The Men In Her Life is composed of silkscreen ink and synthetic polymer paint on canvas. At the time of its creation, it was considered to be one of his most personal works because it combined several elements that had inspired him throughout his career: fame, death and serial imagery.
With an iconic subject like Marilyn Monroe as its focal point, The Men In Her Life represented a significant shift in Warhol’s artistic style and technique during the 1960s when it debuted at the Sonnabend Gallery in Paris in November 1962. It was also the first painting he created while working with screen printing as his primary medium; previously he’d been more interested in drawing and painting by hand (though no less technically complex).
2 The buyer offered a winning bid under the name “masterpiece,” said a Sotheby’s spokeswoman who refused to identify the buyer. The buyer’s premium — the auction house commission — is about 12% of the sale price.
Oops! Click Regenerate Content below to try generating this section again.
3 “This painting is clearly one of those rare objects that defines an era and a collecting market,” said David Norman, co-chairman of Sotheby’s contemporary art department worldwide.
When it comes to the world of art, we know what to expect: the most expensive artwork in the world is Picasso’s “Women of Algiers (Version O)”. The painting was sold privately in 2015 for a staggering $179 million.
But last week, Andy Warhol’s iconic Marilyn Monroe portrait sold for a record-breaking $195 million, making it the most expensive artwork ever sold at an auction. The sale took place at Sotheby’s in New York City over a period of 19 minutes.
4 The painting is one of four based on Monroe’s 1962 production still from Niagara. It depicts Monroe in black and white with a red background behind her blonde hair and pale face that has no features beyond her open lips.
The painting is one of four based on Monroe’s 1962 production still from Niagara. It depicts Monroe in black and white with a red background behind her blonde hair and pale face that has no features beyond her open lips.
Warhol created the series of paintings after Monroe was found dead of an overdose at age 36.
5 Warhol created them after Monroe was found dead of an overdose at age 36 just months after he made several paintings of her with bright red lips and a red background.
The painting was created as part of a series of four, depicting Monroe in the same pose, with her lips pursed. Warhol created them after Monroe was found dead of an overdose at age 36 just months after he made several paintings of her with bright red lips and a red background.
The painting is based on a production still from the movie Niagara. The image chosen by Andy Warhol to paint Marilyn Monroe’s face from captures the actress in a state that perfectly fits the portrayal of one of America’s most iconic sex symbols: fresh-faced and ready for action.