Dream & Discover
Discover Shot Sage Blue Marilyn
1964, Andy Warhol
Celebrated for its bright blue eyeshadow, yellow hair and red lips, Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn (1964) is poised to become the most expensive 20th-century artwork ever to sell at auction. Coming to Christie’s in May with an estimate of around $200 million, the 40-square-inch silkscreen of Marilyn Monroe is based on a promotional photo from the actress’s 1953 film Niagara, and forms part of Warhol’s ‘Shot Marilyn’ series, so named after a fabled ‘art happening’ at Warhol’s Factory. In 1964 the performance artist Dorothy Podber walked into Warhol’s studio and with a pistol shot a hole through four of the five Marilyn canvases. The present work remained unharmed.
Offered from the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation, it has been described as ‘the most significant 20th-century painting to come to auction in a generation.’ For Georg Frei, Chairman of the Board, Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation, ‘the spectacular portrait isolates the person and the star: Marilyn the woman is gone; the terrible circumstances of her life and death are forgotten. All that remains is the enigmatic smile that links her to another mysterious smile of a distinguished lady, the Mona Lisa.’ This is blue-chip art at its finest. Paddles at the ready.