Andy Warhol Shot Sage Blue Marilyn sells for record £158 million at auction

Andy Warhol Shot Sage Blue Marilyn has gone under the hammer for $195 million (£158 million), making it the most expensive work by a US artist sold at auction.

The famous image, created in 1964, is a close-up portrait of actress Marilyn Monroe, depicted in vibrant block colours, with yellow hair, blue eyeshadow and red lips on a blue background.

The previous record was held by Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose 1982 painting Untitled of a skull-like face sold for $111 million (£90 million) at Sotheby’s in 2017.

An iconic painting of Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol has been auctioned for $195m (£158.17m) – making it the most expensive piece of 20th Century art ever sold.

The painting, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, was painted by Warhol in 1964 using a famous photograph as inspiration.

The amount is also the highest ever paid for an American work of art.

The Christie’s auction in New York was widely seen as a symbol of the luxury art market’s health.

Ahead of the auction, Christie’s wrote that the painting is “one of the rarest and most transcendent images in existence”, with a selling price “in the region” of $200m.

The auction ended with a sale price of $170m, which rose to $195m with taxes and fees taken into account.