Stolen Art DealerAndy Warhol’s square silkscreen portrait of Marilyn Monroe: a pink face with red lips, blue eyeshadow and flat yellow hair, printed in black line work over a muted sage-blue ground.
Tap to zoom
Catalogue No. 04 · Christie’s · New York
Shot Sage Blue Marilyn
Sold for
$195million
Christie’s, New York · 9 May 2022 · 3rd of 392 in the Record Book
Confirmed by two sourcesAbout $224.8 million in today’s money: 2,600 years of the typical US household’s income. Source
- Artist
- Andy Warhol (American, 1928–1987)
- Title
- Shot Sage Blue Marilyn
- Date
- 1964
- Medium
- Acrylic and silkscreen ink on linen
- Size
- 101.6 × 101.6 cm (40 × 40 in)
Look closer
The forehead
The brow between the eyebrows is where the shooting story places the bullet. Guinness says faint marks remain visible, but sources disagree on whether this canvas was hit, so judge for yourself.
Pink face, sage ground
The pink flesh tone sits against the sage-blue ground, with earrings that match the ground, according to Wikipedia. That separates this canvas from the turquoise version, where the earrings are pink.
Listen to the story
The narration from our Reel, about a minute long.
Read the narration
She asked if she could shoot them. Warhol said yes. Nineteen sixty-four. Andy Warhol had just finished five Marilyns at his Factory. According to Christie's, Dorothy Podber came by with his friend Ray Johnson. Warhol reportedly thought she meant photographs. She fired a single shot at the stack. Whether the bullet hit this one is still argued over. Either way, that day named the series: this is Shot Sage Blue Marilyn. All the sale proceeds would go to the Ammann Foundation: children's health and education, Christie's says. Sold, for a hundred and ninety-five million dollars. Reportedly to dealer Larry Guh-GO-zhun. It was the most expensive twentieth-century work ever sold at auction, until twenty twenty-five. Red lips, yellow hair, and a bullet nobody can pin down. Follow Stolen Art Dealer: the story behind the price, every day.
In 1964 Andy Warhol made five 40-inch square portraits of Marilyn Monroe, each on a different colour ground. This one is sage blue. Christie’s says he made them with a labour-intensive method that he did not repeat.
Then came the shot. Christie’s says Dorothy Podber came to Warhol’s Factory with his friend Ray Johnson and fired a single shot at the stacked canvases. She had asked to shoot them, and Warhol reportedly said yes, thinking she meant photographs. That day named the series: the Shot Marilyns. Whether the bullet hit this canvas is still argued over.
Later owners included Leo Castelli’s gallery and S. I. Newhouse, who sold it in 1986 to the Zurich dealer Thomas Ammann, through Gagosian Gallery.
On 9 May 2022 it sold at Christie’s New York for $195 million with fees, after a reported hammer price of $170 million. At the time it was the most expensive 20th-century work, and the most expensive work by an American artist, ever sold at auction. Bloomberg reported that Larry Gagosian won the bidding. All proceeds went to the Ammann Foundation, for children’s health and education, Christie’s says.
The sale
- Auction house
- Christie’s, New York
- Date
- 9 May 2022
- Lot
- 36A
- Estimate
- On request
- Sold for
- $195 million (including buyer’s premium)
Test your eye on the market: set your estimates
Provenance
1964
Made by Andy Warhol at the Factory in New York.
Dates not published
Owned in turn by Leon Kraushar, Leo Castelli Gallery, Fred Mueller and Blum Helman Gallery, all in New York.
Date not published
Owned by S. I. Newhouse Jr., New York.
1986
Bought from Newhouse, through Gagosian Gallery, by the Zurich dealer Thomas Ammann.
Later
Passed to the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation, Zurich.
9 May 2022
Sold by the foundation at Christie’s New York, lot 36A, for $195,040,000 with premium. Christie’s named no buyer. Bloomberg reported that dealer Larry Gagosian was the winning bidder. Reported
See it on a wall
Sources
- AP via Boston.com: Warhol’s Marilyn auction nabs $195M, most for US artist (10 May 2022)
- Guinness World Records: Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe painting, sold for $195m, breaks two records
- Bloomberg via WealthManagement.com: Who’s Gagosian, the winning bidder for Warhol’s $195M Marilyn (10 May 2022)
- Airmail: The Monroe Doctrine (May 2022)
- New York Times obituary of Dorothy Podber (Randy Kennedy, 2008), reprinted by Art of the Prank
Prices include the buyer’s premium, in US dollars at the time of sale, unless marked as a hammer price.