$72M Sale Shatters Warhol Record

Auction madness continues as contemporary-art market sizzles
By Marie Morris,  Newser Staff
Posted May 17, 2007 4:33 PM CDT
$72M Sale Shatters Warhol Record
Ken Yeh, deputy chairman of Christie's Asia gestures in front of a painting by Andy Warhol entitled "Lemon Marilyn"during an auction preview in Hong Kong Wednesday, April 4, 2007. The painting estimated to be worth at least $15 million will go on sale at auction on May 16 in New York. (AP Photo/Vincent...   (Associated Press)

An Andy Warhol painting sold for $71.7 million last night at Christie's, more than quadrupling the previous record price for a work by the pop artist. The price for "Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I)," part of Warhol's "Death and Disaster" series, more than doubled the presale estimate and overshadowed the $28 million sale of "Lemon Marilyn."

Prices broke records for more than half of the 50 contemporary artists included in the sale, another sign of the red-hot market that saw a Rothko painting go for nearly $73 million at Sotheby's just one night earlier. The Christie's auctioneer called last night's feeding frenzy "one of the most remarkable sales I've ever seen." (More Andy Warhol stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X