1962
See also : Warhol USA by Warhol Celebrities by Warhol Twombly Lichtenstein England Bacon Man and woman Cities Cars Italy Ferrari LWB to GTO Cars of the 1960s
1962 Coca-Cola for Everybody
2012 SOLD 57 M$ including premium
1962 is the wonderful year of Andy Warhol, when he suddenly deploys all his artistic and social language. The bottle of Coca-Cola has a key role which he clearly explained.
For Warhol, this bottle in a single model with no variant is the common point between all Americans without any social distinction. The US President, Liz Taylor and the observer of the art of Warhol see and use this object in the same way. It is a symbol of equality. At the same time, Warhol is also studying the soup cans which he stages in incredible positions with dimensions similar to those of humans.
Equality is socially too important for joking, and the bottle of Coca-Cola, even when oversized, remains standing with the utmost seriousness. For this reason, variations are not appropriate and this bottle is the rarest among the great iconic symbols of the first year of Warhol.
The early Coca-Colas by Warhol are made singly by hand in black, without recourse to the silkscreen. Coca-Cola (4), acrylic on canvas 208 x 144 cm, was sold for $ 35.3 million including premium by Sotheby's on November 9, 2010.
The idea of multiples is already another key of the world of Warhol. Coca-Cola (3), casein on cotton 176 x 137 cm, has exactly the same figure as (4). Coca-Cola (3) is estimated $ 40M, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 12. This artwork is illustrated in the article shared by Bloomberg.
POST SALE COMMENT
This specimen number 3 of the most iconic series of Pop Art was sold for $ 57M including premium.
For Warhol, this bottle in a single model with no variant is the common point between all Americans without any social distinction. The US President, Liz Taylor and the observer of the art of Warhol see and use this object in the same way. It is a symbol of equality. At the same time, Warhol is also studying the soup cans which he stages in incredible positions with dimensions similar to those of humans.
Equality is socially too important for joking, and the bottle of Coca-Cola, even when oversized, remains standing with the utmost seriousness. For this reason, variations are not appropriate and this bottle is the rarest among the great iconic symbols of the first year of Warhol.
The early Coca-Colas by Warhol are made singly by hand in black, without recourse to the silkscreen. Coca-Cola (4), acrylic on canvas 208 x 144 cm, was sold for $ 35.3 million including premium by Sotheby's on November 9, 2010.
The idea of multiples is already another key of the world of Warhol. Coca-Cola (3), casein on cotton 176 x 137 cm, has exactly the same figure as (4). Coca-Cola (3) is estimated $ 40M, for sale by Christie's in New York on November 12. This artwork is illustrated in the article shared by Bloomberg.
POST SALE COMMENT
This specimen number 3 of the most iconic series of Pop Art was sold for $ 57M including premium.
1962 A Mythical Frenzy
2017 SOLD for $ 53M including premium
Cy Twombly visits Italy for the second time in 1957. He perceives that Rome is still retaining the traces of the carnal violence of its mythology and of its antique history, in its monuments and their graffiti but also in the tradition transmitted through all these centuries by poets and artists.
He then went to live semi-permanently in Rome where he developed his new style which simultaneously exacerbated all the passions : erotic, pornographic, criminal, scatological. He tries to feel by himself all these impulses in a semi-automatic creative act for which he paints directly with his hands and adds his own graffiti.
The rape of Leda by Jupiter in the form of a swan is for him a complete theme, with his sexual act that generates a mythical fecundity.
In 1962 Twombly executed two Leda and the Swan in the same format 191 x 200 cm certainly chosen to give an idea of the life size representation of this scuffle in an abstraction mixing the illusion of bodies and feathers. One of them is exhibited in the Museum Of Modern Art in New York. The other is estimated $ 35M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 17, lot 6 B.
The comparison between both works is significant. Their similar explosion demonstrates that the artist's scripture, although based on an impulsive gesture, responds to a pre-defined global conception. The MoMA's Leda is more complete because it includes the usual graffiti missing in the version offered at auction. In both cases in the upper part of the image the small drawing of a modern window appears, symbolizing the artist's message about the timeless character of the passions.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
He then went to live semi-permanently in Rome where he developed his new style which simultaneously exacerbated all the passions : erotic, pornographic, criminal, scatological. He tries to feel by himself all these impulses in a semi-automatic creative act for which he paints directly with his hands and adds his own graffiti.
The rape of Leda by Jupiter in the form of a swan is for him a complete theme, with his sexual act that generates a mythical fecundity.
In 1962 Twombly executed two Leda and the Swan in the same format 191 x 200 cm certainly chosen to give an idea of the life size representation of this scuffle in an abstraction mixing the illusion of bodies and feathers. One of them is exhibited in the Museum Of Modern Art in New York. The other is estimated $ 35M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 17, lot 6 B.
The comparison between both works is significant. Their similar explosion demonstrates that the artist's scripture, although based on an impulsive gesture, responds to a pre-defined global conception. The MoMA's Leda is more complete because it includes the usual graffiti missing in the version offered at auction. In both cases in the upper part of the image the small drawing of a modern window appears, symbolizing the artist's message about the timeless character of the passions.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
1962 Study from Innocent X by Bacon
2007 SOLD for $ 53M including premium by Sotheby's
Link to Artvalue.
1962 The Two Series of the 250 GTO
2018 SOLD for $ 48M including premium
It is not enough to be the prettiest berlinetta of its time to win Grand Touring competitions, especially when Jaguar, Aston Martin and Shelby apply ambitious development programs. The Ferrari250 GT SWB is no longer competitive with its oblique front that lifts at 250 km/h.
A team around Giotto Bizzarrini designs a low body with a tapered front hood. To facilitate the homologation, the new chassis has the same size as the SWB. The studies are validated in wind tunnel. The lowered engine remains a 3-liter Colombo V12 while incorporating several improvements from the 250 TR.
Thus was born the 250 GTO at the beginning of 1962. 33 cars are built according to this model. They immediately dominate endurance and hill competitions. However Bizzarrini had left the company after a disagreement with Enzo Ferrari.
The technological challenge goes on. The approval of the 250 LM will be refused. While waiting for better days, Ferrari requires Mauro Forghieri and his team to modify the 250 GTO according to the aerodynamic improvement of the LM. Three 250 GTO Series II are built in 1964.
Four Series I cars are upgraded in 1964 to the Series II specifications. One of them is estimated $ 45M for sale by RM Sotheby's in Monterey on August 25, lot 247. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
This car was in 1962 the third GTO produced. Tested in May by Phil Hill at the Targa Florio, it is sold by Ferrari a few days later to a friend of Enzo Ferrari, Edoardo Lualdi-Gabardi, who gets excellent results in hill climbing with this car. In April 1964 Corrado Ferlaino leads it to First In Class in the Targa Florio, thus brilliantly validating the transitory concept of the Series II.
The price of a Ferrari 250 GTO depends on its results in period and on its crash history. The car for sale was not damaged. For reasons of preservation, the original engine was removed a few years ago. It is sold with the car.
In May 2018 a price of $ 70M in a private transaction was reported for a 250 GTO with a better race history including the victory at the 1964 Tour de France.
A team around Giotto Bizzarrini designs a low body with a tapered front hood. To facilitate the homologation, the new chassis has the same size as the SWB. The studies are validated in wind tunnel. The lowered engine remains a 3-liter Colombo V12 while incorporating several improvements from the 250 TR.
Thus was born the 250 GTO at the beginning of 1962. 33 cars are built according to this model. They immediately dominate endurance and hill competitions. However Bizzarrini had left the company after a disagreement with Enzo Ferrari.
The technological challenge goes on. The approval of the 250 LM will be refused. While waiting for better days, Ferrari requires Mauro Forghieri and his team to modify the 250 GTO according to the aerodynamic improvement of the LM. Three 250 GTO Series II are built in 1964.
Four Series I cars are upgraded in 1964 to the Series II specifications. One of them is estimated $ 45M for sale by RM Sotheby's in Monterey on August 25, lot 247. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
This car was in 1962 the third GTO produced. Tested in May by Phil Hill at the Targa Florio, it is sold by Ferrari a few days later to a friend of Enzo Ferrari, Edoardo Lualdi-Gabardi, who gets excellent results in hill climbing with this car. In April 1964 Corrado Ferlaino leads it to First In Class in the Targa Florio, thus brilliantly validating the transitory concept of the Series II.
The price of a Ferrari 250 GTO depends on its results in period and on its crash history. The car for sale was not damaged. For reasons of preservation, the original engine was removed a few years ago. It is sold with the car.
In May 2018 a price of $ 70M in a private transaction was reported for a 250 GTO with a better race history including the victory at the 1964 Tour de France.
1962 All the Dollars are for Warhol
2009 SOLD 43.7 M$ including premium
Sotheby's is announcing for their sale on November 11 in New York a very important artwork of Warhol, estimated $ 8 million. This painting on silkscreen is titled 200 One Dollar Bills.
The work dates from March - April 1962. That is important. 1962 is the year of the first exhibitions dedicated to the artist in Los Angeles and New York. Suddenly, from nowhere, appeared the Warholian founding themes of contemporary art: the Campbell's soup, Marilyn, the dollar.
Warhol's contribution is to introduce in art such popular images that are instantly recognizable by everyone, and yet are paintings. Doing it he actually created current art, or still better the art of the current world.
He operated at all scales the fruitful idea of multiples, for which he is helped by the silkscreen printing technique in two complementary ways: separate similar works with variations of colors, and juxtaposition of identical patterns on the same work.
We have here an example of the latter case: over a total area of 203 x 234 cm, the work shows banknotes in the amount and quantity indicated in the title, in twenty rows of ten units each, without interval. What's more repetitive in the life of every day than a banknote? At least, everyone wants it so. What could more easily attract the attention of an American middleman than his $ 1 ticket?
The following image, unspectacular on the web, is shared by AuctionPublicity.
POST SALE COMMENT
This work is historical, the result confirms that fact: $ 43.7 million including premium.
Sotheby's had left running the much conservative estimate at $ 8 million. When viewing the smile of the star auctioneer of the company in the pre sale video presentation, it became obvious that something important was to happen.
The title I chose for my article was also prescient: the release of Sotheby's had convinced me.
Congratulation to Sotheby's.
The work dates from March - April 1962. That is important. 1962 is the year of the first exhibitions dedicated to the artist in Los Angeles and New York. Suddenly, from nowhere, appeared the Warholian founding themes of contemporary art: the Campbell's soup, Marilyn, the dollar.
Warhol's contribution is to introduce in art such popular images that are instantly recognizable by everyone, and yet are paintings. Doing it he actually created current art, or still better the art of the current world.
He operated at all scales the fruitful idea of multiples, for which he is helped by the silkscreen printing technique in two complementary ways: separate similar works with variations of colors, and juxtaposition of identical patterns on the same work.
We have here an example of the latter case: over a total area of 203 x 234 cm, the work shows banknotes in the amount and quantity indicated in the title, in twenty rows of ten units each, without interval. What's more repetitive in the life of every day than a banknote? At least, everyone wants it so. What could more easily attract the attention of an American middleman than his $ 1 ticket?
The following image, unspectacular on the web, is shared by AuctionPublicity.
POST SALE COMMENT
This work is historical, the result confirms that fact: $ 43.7 million including premium.
Sotheby's had left running the much conservative estimate at $ 8 million. When viewing the smile of the star auctioneer of the company in the pre sale video presentation, it became obvious that something important was to happen.
The title I chose for my article was also prescient: the release of Sotheby's had convinced me.
Congratulation to Sotheby's.
1962 The Blurred Image of Liberty
2012 SOLD 43.7 M$ including premium
For Warhol, in 1962, all experiences, all messages are possible. His artistic language is entirely new.
The use of silkscreen ink applied to the enlargement of a trivial photograph is the decisive creative invention of Warhol. It allows the endless repetition of the same image, with a speed of execution that quickly diversifies the catalog of the artist. It is not to be considered as a print due to the variants from a completed artwork to another and also because of the finish with spray enamel and graphite.
But what does exactly want this former designer of ads? Present to the world a publicity for America, or deride its consumer society? Exalt the hope of a sheltered life, or exacerbate the futility of politics?
If there were only stars and soup cans, Warhol's message is simple. Disasters, electric chairs, car crashes put everything into question. Executed in 1962, Warhol's Statue of Liberty anticipates all the social gnashing of his art. In our world, everything is false.
The symbol is present, as in reality, off Manhattan. Warhol well knows that the multiplicity of images kills emotion. Thanks to his screen printing technique, he kills the hope of Liberty by aligning 4 rows of 6 identical images.
Warhol knows that painting is an illusory representation of the three-dimensional reality of the world. Each of the 24 units of Miss Liberty is treated in green and red like an anaglyph, but the two views are from one single postcard. The viewer with his stereoscopic glasses marvels at a false illusion of 3D due to inequality of the finish.
This canvas 198 x 206 cm is for sale by Christie's on November 14 in New York. The logics would be that it is acknowledged as one of the key works of Warhol, in excess of $ 35M. The auction house has not published an estimate. Here is the link to the catalog.
I invite you to play the video featured by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This surprising artwork provides a final denial to whoever thinks that the art, personality and ambition of Warhol are simple to decode. This Statue of Liberty is one of the masterpieces of the first great year of the artist, as well as the 200 One Dollar Bills, sold exactly for the same price at Sotheby's in 2009: $ 43.7 million including premium.
The use of silkscreen ink applied to the enlargement of a trivial photograph is the decisive creative invention of Warhol. It allows the endless repetition of the same image, with a speed of execution that quickly diversifies the catalog of the artist. It is not to be considered as a print due to the variants from a completed artwork to another and also because of the finish with spray enamel and graphite.
But what does exactly want this former designer of ads? Present to the world a publicity for America, or deride its consumer society? Exalt the hope of a sheltered life, or exacerbate the futility of politics?
If there were only stars and soup cans, Warhol's message is simple. Disasters, electric chairs, car crashes put everything into question. Executed in 1962, Warhol's Statue of Liberty anticipates all the social gnashing of his art. In our world, everything is false.
The symbol is present, as in reality, off Manhattan. Warhol well knows that the multiplicity of images kills emotion. Thanks to his screen printing technique, he kills the hope of Liberty by aligning 4 rows of 6 identical images.
Warhol knows that painting is an illusory representation of the three-dimensional reality of the world. Each of the 24 units of Miss Liberty is treated in green and red like an anaglyph, but the two views are from one single postcard. The viewer with his stereoscopic glasses marvels at a false illusion of 3D due to inequality of the finish.
This canvas 198 x 206 cm is for sale by Christie's on November 14 in New York. The logics would be that it is acknowledged as one of the key works of Warhol, in excess of $ 35M. The auction house has not published an estimate. Here is the link to the catalog.
I invite you to play the video featured by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
This surprising artwork provides a final denial to whoever thinks that the art, personality and ambition of Warhol are simple to decode. This Statue of Liberty is one of the masterpieces of the first great year of the artist, as well as the 200 One Dollar Bills, sold exactly for the same price at Sotheby's in 2009: $ 43.7 million including premium.
1962 The Minimalism of Emotion
2015 SOLD for $ 42M including premium
Look Mickey by Roy Lichtenstein in 1961 is the turning point of modern art. The picture is figurative, popular (with Disney's characters) impossible (animals that mimic humans), burlesque, and even animated by its text which assesses what has gone before and what will happen afterwards.
Leo Castelli immediately understands the importance of this artwork. Roy also. The artist rushes into love and war comics, considered as a minor art but enormously appealing to the public. His technique of showing the printing dots in scale across the very large magnification of his art and of keeping the pure colors is clever because it makes the connection between his inspiration and his work.
Roy finds what he is looking for. The source is abundant and the path is unexplored. The designer of the original comics created unknowingly some masterpieces of emotional imaging. For him, the scene was inseparable from the story. By isolating some simple images with or without a phylactery, Roy met the challenge of providing an art altogether major and popular.
On May 12 in New York, Sotheby's sells at lot 15 The Ring (engagement), an oil on canvas 123 x 178 cm painted in 1962 which is one of the largest by this artist at that time. The press release of March 23 announced an estimate in the region of $ 50M.
A man's hand presents the ring to the finger of a woman. That's it. This is the representation of one of the most important rites of passage of our civilization. We will not know anything more of this new couple, but the position of the hands expresses the mutual trust that sublimes such act.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
Leo Castelli immediately understands the importance of this artwork. Roy also. The artist rushes into love and war comics, considered as a minor art but enormously appealing to the public. His technique of showing the printing dots in scale across the very large magnification of his art and of keeping the pure colors is clever because it makes the connection between his inspiration and his work.
Roy finds what he is looking for. The source is abundant and the path is unexplored. The designer of the original comics created unknowingly some masterpieces of emotional imaging. For him, the scene was inseparable from the story. By isolating some simple images with or without a phylactery, Roy met the challenge of providing an art altogether major and popular.
On May 12 in New York, Sotheby's sells at lot 15 The Ring (engagement), an oil on canvas 123 x 178 cm painted in 1962 which is one of the largest by this artist at that time. The press release of March 23 announced an estimate in the region of $ 50M.
A man's hand presents the ring to the finger of a woman. That's it. This is the representation of one of the most important rites of passage of our civilization. We will not know anything more of this new couple, but the position of the hands expresses the mutual trust that sublimes such act.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's.
1962 The White Marilyn
2014 SOLD 41 M$ including premium
Andy Warhol, the painter of Coca Cola bottles and Campbell's cans, finished his first solo exhibition in July 1962 in Los Angeles. He immediately set to develop a quick and repeatable technique to produce paintings : silkscreen printing over a painted surface.
With such a process, Warhol could make multiple images either dispositioned side by side on the same canvas or featured in different colors on separated canvas.
He made his first trials with photographs of two young actors, Troy Donahue and Warren Beatty. The sudden death of Marilyn Monroe occured just at that time. Warhol understood that the image of the actress was a perfect theme for the development of his art.
The Quadruple Marilyn 74 x 55 cm overall that sold for $ 38M including premium at Phillips on May 16, 2013 can be described as a prototype with two applications of screen printing, one above and one below the acrylic layer, in order to improve the contrast of the image.
This technique did not meet the productivity required by Warhol. The series of twelve single Marilyn 51 x 41 cm are made with a single screen printing over acrylic paints of various colors. Two of these paintings are monochromatic. They are the precursors of the universal imaging conceived by Warhol.
The White Marilyn is estimated $ 12M, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 13. Here are two results for colored variants. The Lemon Marilyn was sold for $ 28M including premium at Christie's on May 18, 2007. The Orange Marilyn was sold for $ 16.3 million including premium at Christie's on November 15, 2006.
This series of twelve is contemporary with the Gold Marilyn currently at the MoMA, where the single silkscreen portrait surrounded by a halo occupies the center of a monumental canvas 211 x 145 cm.
That fabulous Gold Marilyn confirms that Warhol chose the theme of Marilyn through a mystical impulse and not by worldliness or desire to shock. A deep believer, he will come much later to religious iconography, preferring to show a preaching Christ rather than dying on the cross. His choice of an early picture of a Marilyn resplendent before the tragic events of her life matches the same idea.
POST SALE COMMENT
Forget the estimate. The highly important White Marilyn was sold for $ 41 M including premium.
With such a process, Warhol could make multiple images either dispositioned side by side on the same canvas or featured in different colors on separated canvas.
He made his first trials with photographs of two young actors, Troy Donahue and Warren Beatty. The sudden death of Marilyn Monroe occured just at that time. Warhol understood that the image of the actress was a perfect theme for the development of his art.
The Quadruple Marilyn 74 x 55 cm overall that sold for $ 38M including premium at Phillips on May 16, 2013 can be described as a prototype with two applications of screen printing, one above and one below the acrylic layer, in order to improve the contrast of the image.
This technique did not meet the productivity required by Warhol. The series of twelve single Marilyn 51 x 41 cm are made with a single screen printing over acrylic paints of various colors. Two of these paintings are monochromatic. They are the precursors of the universal imaging conceived by Warhol.
The White Marilyn is estimated $ 12M, for sale by Christie's in New York on May 13. Here are two results for colored variants. The Lemon Marilyn was sold for $ 28M including premium at Christie's on May 18, 2007. The Orange Marilyn was sold for $ 16.3 million including premium at Christie's on November 15, 2006.
This series of twelve is contemporary with the Gold Marilyn currently at the MoMA, where the single silkscreen portrait surrounded by a halo occupies the center of a monumental canvas 211 x 145 cm.
That fabulous Gold Marilyn confirms that Warhol chose the theme of Marilyn through a mystical impulse and not by worldliness or desire to shock. A deep believer, he will come much later to religious iconography, preferring to show a preaching Christ rather than dying on the cross. His choice of an early picture of a Marilyn resplendent before the tragic events of her life matches the same idea.
POST SALE COMMENT
Forget the estimate. The highly important White Marilyn was sold for $ 41 M including premium.
1962 Opening the Club of the 250 GTO Owners
2014 SOLD 38 M$ including premium
The Ferrari 250 GTO (Gran Turismo Omologato) is the skilled union of the 250GT SWB chassis and of the 250TR engine, designed to win endurance and hill climbing competitions. It was coachworked as a berlinetta by Scaglietti. Its perfect geometry has also been improved after wind tunnel tests.
39 cars were manufactured between 1962 and 1964, which is a high figure for a commercial upscale Ferrari. Some have been modified. 28 units remain with the 3-litre engine from its original design.
Extremely competitive without being exceptionally rare, the 250 GTO is the preferred model of the auto enthusiasts from the high society, functioning as an informal club with media covered exclusive meetings. Cars are transmitted like a talisman by each owner to his handpicked successor.
For this reason, the history of the 250 GTO at auction is null. Sports Car Digest retrieved two events: a car unpaid after it was sold by Sotheby's in Monaco in 1990 and another one unsold by Brooks at Gstaad in 2000.
The sale by Bonhams at Quail Lodge on August 14 of a 250 GTO is a great event in the history of automobile auctions. Coming from a deceased estate, it had not changed hands for nearly half a century and is offered without reserve, lot 3.
This car has accumulated an interesting competition record after a bad start. Made in 1962, it was much damaged at Montlhéry on 7 October of the same year, killing one of its co-owners the ski champion Henri Oreiller. Repaired in 1963 at a time when the production chain of the 250 GTO was in full operation, it is an authentic unit.
POST SALE COMMENT
Such an event was expected for many years: a Ferrari 250 GTO sold at auction! The result, $ 38 million including premium, enters the price range expected by Bonhams.
39 cars were manufactured between 1962 and 1964, which is a high figure for a commercial upscale Ferrari. Some have been modified. 28 units remain with the 3-litre engine from its original design.
Extremely competitive without being exceptionally rare, the 250 GTO is the preferred model of the auto enthusiasts from the high society, functioning as an informal club with media covered exclusive meetings. Cars are transmitted like a talisman by each owner to his handpicked successor.
For this reason, the history of the 250 GTO at auction is null. Sports Car Digest retrieved two events: a car unpaid after it was sold by Sotheby's in Monaco in 1990 and another one unsold by Brooks at Gstaad in 2000.
The sale by Bonhams at Quail Lodge on August 14 of a 250 GTO is a great event in the history of automobile auctions. Coming from a deceased estate, it had not changed hands for nearly half a century and is offered without reserve, lot 3.
This car has accumulated an interesting competition record after a bad start. Made in 1962, it was much damaged at Montlhéry on 7 October of the same year, killing one of its co-owners the ski champion Henri Oreiller. Repaired in 1963 at a time when the production chain of the 250 GTO was in full operation, it is an authentic unit.
POST SALE COMMENT
Such an event was expected for many years: a Ferrari 250 GTO sold at auction! The result, $ 38 million including premium, enters the price range expected by Bonhams.
1962 Four Dazzling Marilyns
2013 SOLD for $ 38M including premium
2015 SOLD for $ 36M including premium
PRE 2015 SALE DISCUSSION
Warhol's Four Marilyns was sold for $ 38M including premium by Phillips on May 16, 2013, lot 23. I invite you to watch the video shared by the auction house before the sale.
This painting comes now for sale at Christie's in New York on November 10, lot 20B with a minimum price guarantee which is not released, as usual in such a case.
Here is how I introduced this artwork in 2013.
Andy Warhol, a former advertising illustrator turned artist, is very busy at the beginning of 1962. The mockery with which he displays the best loved consumer objects made in America becomes the thread of an exhibition at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles. Around the same time, he experiments his technique assisted by silkscreen that will allow him to increase his output as if his paintings were posters.
Marilyn's death on August 5 is a major shock to the American dream. Magazines explore frantically the last periods of her life. With opportunity, Andy understands that this tragic event will allow him to expand his themes beyond cats and soup cans.
Marilyn was dazzling. Andy chooses a film still made in 1952 to exalt his new posthumous muse. He copies the same image four times, in two columns and two rows, for a total size that now would seem small, 73 x 55 cm. In addition to the nice smile, the yellow hair before the orange background is expressing that death should not take its toll on the actress.
This is still a time for experiment. To enhance the graphic quality, Andy passes a second silkscreened layer over the acrylic. He shall quickly abandon this refinement which was not conducive to the rapid diversification wished by him for his art. This 'Four Marilyns' is one of the very first in the series devoted by Andy to this picture of the actress.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
Warhol's Four Marilyns was sold for $ 38M including premium by Phillips on May 16, 2013, lot 23. I invite you to watch the video shared by the auction house before the sale.
This painting comes now for sale at Christie's in New York on November 10, lot 20B with a minimum price guarantee which is not released, as usual in such a case.
Here is how I introduced this artwork in 2013.
Andy Warhol, a former advertising illustrator turned artist, is very busy at the beginning of 1962. The mockery with which he displays the best loved consumer objects made in America becomes the thread of an exhibition at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles. Around the same time, he experiments his technique assisted by silkscreen that will allow him to increase his output as if his paintings were posters.
Marilyn's death on August 5 is a major shock to the American dream. Magazines explore frantically the last periods of her life. With opportunity, Andy understands that this tragic event will allow him to expand his themes beyond cats and soup cans.
Marilyn was dazzling. Andy chooses a film still made in 1952 to exalt his new posthumous muse. He copies the same image four times, in two columns and two rows, for a total size that now would seem small, 73 x 55 cm. In addition to the nice smile, the yellow hair before the orange background is expressing that death should not take its toll on the actress.
This is still a time for experiment. To enhance the graphic quality, Andy passes a second silkscreened layer over the acrylic. He shall quickly abandon this refinement which was not conducive to the rapid diversification wished by him for his art. This 'Four Marilyns' is one of the very first in the series devoted by Andy to this picture of the actress.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
1962 The Masterpiece of Yves Klein
2012 SOLD 36.5 M$ including premium
The art of Yves Klein might seem dissimilar. He followed many paths in his short career: monochromes, anthropometries, burned panels, happenings. We now know that these led to a consistent whole, made concrete in FC1 (Fire Color 1) for sale on May 8 by Christie's in New York.
The event took place in 1962. Klein rented a test room of Gaz de France, for security reasons. Three times, two young women pressed their naked bodies on the gold surface of the panel. Covered in Klein blue or pink pigment, they printed their mark in the conventional procedure of the artist. Wet, they protected some areas of the artwork against the future fire attack.
The result is remarkable: without touching himself anytime the surface, Klein has managed this painting of two nude women, sensual, dreamlike, colorful, the culmination of all his creative process based on the study of the body. The work, 141 x 300 cm, is monumental. It is estimated $ 30M.
Klein was a very good judoka before being an artist. This sportsman ended the day in a worrying state of exhaustion, both physically after handling the flamethrower of 40 Kg and psychically for his intense creative effort. This day was his swan song. He died of a heart attack on June 6, 1962, aged 34.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's, including some elements filmed during the creation of the artwork.
POST SALE COMMENT
Yves Klein has managed this total synthesis of his art just before his sudden death. You can not find anything better in his work. The estimate was well targeted and the price, $ 36.5 million including premium, is very good.
The event took place in 1962. Klein rented a test room of Gaz de France, for security reasons. Three times, two young women pressed their naked bodies on the gold surface of the panel. Covered in Klein blue or pink pigment, they printed their mark in the conventional procedure of the artist. Wet, they protected some areas of the artwork against the future fire attack.
The result is remarkable: without touching himself anytime the surface, Klein has managed this painting of two nude women, sensual, dreamlike, colorful, the culmination of all his creative process based on the study of the body. The work, 141 x 300 cm, is monumental. It is estimated $ 30M.
Klein was a very good judoka before being an artist. This sportsman ended the day in a worrying state of exhaustion, both physically after handling the flamethrower of 40 Kg and psychically for his intense creative effort. This day was his swan song. He died of a heart attack on June 6, 1962, aged 34.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's, including some elements filmed during the creation of the artwork.
POST SALE COMMENT
Yves Klein has managed this total synthesis of his art just before his sudden death. You can not find anything better in his work. The estimate was well targeted and the price, $ 36.5 million including premium, is very good.
