Marilyn Monroe’s Iconic Painting Sold For Record-Breaking $195m

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.

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 are taken into account.

The previous record price for a piece of American artwork was $110.5m for a skull painting created in 1982 by Warhol’s sometimes friend and sometimes competitor, Jean-Michael Basquiat.

The final price also smashes the previous record for a 20th Century work of art, set in 2015 when a 1955 painting by Pablo Picasso – Les Femmes d’Alger (Version O) – sold for $179.4m, including fees.