“Shot Sage Blue Marilyn,” “the most important 20th-century painting to ever be sold at auction” according to Christie’s, will go on sale in May.
This iconic portrait of Marilyn Monroe, painted in 1964 by Andy Warhol, is estimated at $200 million, making it the most expensive 20th-century work of art ever sold at auction. The absolute record for a work of art at auction is currently held by the “Salvator Mundi”, supposedly made by Leonardo da Vinci, sold in November 2017 for 450.3 million dollars by Christie’s in New York.
The four works called Shot Marilyns, with different colored backgrounds, including the “sage blue” of this Shot Sage Blue Marilyn – a one meter square – take their names from an incident that occurred in 1964 in Andy’s studio Warhol in Manhattan: after asking the artist if she could “photograph” the paintings (which is pronounced “shoot” like shooting in English), a woman fired a revolver at them.
For Georg Frei, president of the Ammann foundation to which the work belongs, “the image of Marilyn by Andy Warhol, certainly more famous today than the original photo taken from Henry Hathaway’s film Niagara, attests to its intact visual power. in this new millennium.
For the good cause
At a press conference, Christie’s officials specified that the Zurich foundation of Thomas and Doris Ammann (a brother and a sister), would devote the proceeds of the sale “to improving the lives of children through the world through health and education programmes.
“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 .