For the president of the section of art of the 20th and 21st centuries at Christie’s, Alex Rotter, this painting – the “most important” to come up for auction in a generation – is the “absolute pinnacle of American pop art and the promise of Dream American who encapsulates optimism, fragility, celebrity and iconography all at the same time.”
The famous image of Marilyn MonroeAmerican actress and world icon of tragic destiny (1926-1962), belongs to the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation of Zurich, Switzerland, which will dedicate the money from the sale to health and education projects aimed at improving the lives of minors in the world.
“With 100% of the sale of a single painting going to charity, this is the largest philanthropic sale since the Peggy and David Rockefeller Collection auction in 2018,” the auction house said.
The name of the four reproductions “Shot Marilyns”, to which “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn” belongs – one meter by one meter, is due to an incident that occurred in 1964 in Andy Warhol’s workshop in Manhattan: a woman who asked to the artist if he could “photograph” the paintings (“shoot” in English) he shot them with a revolver.
According to the anecdote, the bullet went through four canvases, which Warhol later repaired – the “Shot” series (shot).
The “Shot Blue Marilyn” shows the actress with a pink face, red lips, blonde hair and blue eye shadow on a light blue background (sage blue, in English).
For the president of the Council of the Georg Frei Foundation, the work of Marilyn made by Warhol in 1964, based on a photo for an advertising poster for the film “Niagara” (1953) by Henry Hathaway, “bears witness to its intact visual power in the new millennium.
“The spectacular portrait isolates the person and the star: Marilyn, the woman is gone; the terrible circumstances of her life and death have been forgotten. All that remains is the enigmatic smile that links her with another mysterious smile of another distinguished lady, the Mona Lisa,” the auction house said in a statement.
If the portrait of the iconic actress is auctioned off at the advertised price, it would become the second most expensive work in art history awarded at auction, behind Leonardo de Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, which sold in November 2017 for $450. .3 million dollars.
And it would exceed the price paid for a work of the 20th century, “The Women of Algiers (version 0)”, an oil painting by Pablo Picasso, sold for 179.4 million dollars in 2015 and Amedeo Modigliani’s “Lying Nude” for 170, 4 million dollars, also in 2015, according to a list established by AFP, and the three auctioned by Christie’s.
Despite the fact that the pandemic brought New York to its knees in 2020, its art market has never been so buoyant and has chained records thanks to the great fortunes of the city but above all to buyers from other parts of the world, especially Asians. and getting younger.
Source: Ambito
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