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.
