Reporter | Ye Qing
Editor | Jiang Yan
According to the " Guardian ", on the evening of May 9th local time in New York, the famous work "Shooting Marilyn (Sage Blue)" by Pop artist Andy Warhol was successfully auctioned at Christie's in New York for US$195 million (about RMB 1.3 billion. The transaction price was US$170 million and the additional cost was US$25 million), becoming the 20th century artwork with the highest auction price in history. Before that, the record was the painting "The Woman of Algiers (O)" created by in 1955, which was sold for US$179 million (about RMB 1.19 billion) in 2015.
Warhol created "Shooting Marilyn" in 1964. The work consists of four portraits of Marilyn Monroe, and Monroe in each portrait is penetrated by a bullet. The shooter was Dorothy Podber, an American performance artist. She saw these paintings stacked together at Warhol's studio factory and asked if she could "shot (both shooting and shooting)" them. Warhol thought she was referring to the shooting and agreed. Pod immediately took out the pistol in his bag and shot the painting pile. Warhol's classic work was born. Warhol created a total of five portraits (red, orange, light blue, sage blue, turquoise) for the work, among which the turquoise version is not among the pile of shots. According to the New York Times , the orange version was privately purchased by Ken Griffin, the manager of the hedge fund for US$200 million (about RMB 1.33 billion) in 2017.
At the same time, according to Forbes magazine , the buyer who made a fortune is the well-known art dealer Larry Gagosian (Larry Gagosian). From New York to Hong Kong, China, Gagosian has opened galleries in 19 major cities around the world. It is estimated that annual sales are as high as 9 digits (in US dollars, , ). Gagosian is also the agent of billionaire collectors such as David Geffen ( David Geffen), Steve Cohen (Steve Cohen). Whether the move was a shooting agent has not been confirmed.
This transaction is also regarded as a sign that the European and American art auction markets have recovered after two years of silence due to the epidemic. Before the auction, the estimated price of "Sage Blue" was $200 million. Although the final transaction price was slightly lower than the valuation, the sky-high price of $195 million still injected a shot in the market. Andrew Fabricant, chief operating officer of Gagosian Gallery , said in an interview with CNBC. "This shows that the quality and rarity of the work will always drive the art market forward, and this auction will increase everyone's psychological expectations."
"Shooting Marilyn (Sage Blue)" was previously owned by the Ammanns family of Swiss art merchants. The proceeds from the auction will be used to fund the newly established Thomas and Doris Amman Foundation, committed to protecting and improving the health, welfare and education of children with poverty around the world.
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