User:Painterslegend

Painters Legend. She may have been the definitive Los Angeleno, but for the second Monday in a row, the specter of Marilyn Monroe’s legacy hung over a major moment in New York City high society. A week after Kim Kardashian wore one of the Hollywood legend’s most famous dresses to the annual Met Gala, the city’s art auction season kicked off in full force—when Christie’s put Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn on the auction block.

Kim’s take on Marilyn may have broken the Internet, but Andy’s take will almost certainly break records. Estimates for the price of the painting, arguably the star of a set of five produced by Warhol in 1967 (and then shot with a pistol by performance artist Dorothy Podber), are around $200 million. It’s widely expected to fetch the highest price ever paid at auction for an American piece of art, and could very well break a similar record for any piece produced in the 20th century by the time the gavel falls. (Update: on Monday evening, the piece indeed sold for $195 million to dealer Larry Gagosian, who may have been bidding on behalf of a client).

The star of the collection left behind by the late Swiss art dealers Thomas and Doris Ammann, 20 percent of the sales price will benefit charity, but the moment will also be viewed as a major test for the post-lockdown art market. As such, Christie’s has pulled out all the stops for promoting the sale, including a Friday night dinner at Indochine, a downtown restaurant and ’80s favorite of Warhol. The event brought out an impressive mix of art world luminaries, Warhol confidants, and Christie’s execs, so asking the crowd how Warhol has remained so relevant in 2022 would be like asking a physics symposium what 2+2 equals. But why has Warhol’s painting of Monroe remained among his most iconic?