Andy Warhol's Marilyn becomes the most expensive work of art of the 20th century

A visitor is photographed next to Warhol's painting, this Sunday in the Christie's exhibition hall in New York. Ted Shaffrey (AP)

The spring auction season has started this Monday in New York in style.

Oblivious to wars, economic turmoil or the scourge of a virus, the art market has set another record for the work of a 20th-century artist after the sale at Christie's of a

by Andy Warhol for just over 195 million dollars (specifically, 195,040,000, fees and taxes included).

The bid, which lasted just four minutes, exceeds the price not only of any other American artist, but also the world record paid for a contemporary work, which until now was held by the painting

(1955) by Picasso, sold for 179.5 million in 2015. The firm expected to reach 200 million million dollars (182 million euros), and the auction price, although slightly lower, demonstrates the good health of the market for the art, or its value as a refuge in times of growing economic instability.

The fact that the auction was charitable - the money will be used to finance the projects of a foundation to help children - does not detract from the amount paid for the

, from 1964, one of the four that the pop artist made of the actress.

This version, completed two years after Monroe's death, has reduced dimensions (100x100 centimeters), but, for Christie's expert Alex Rotter, head of the department of the 20th and 21st centuries, “it is the essence of all Warhol, defines its status in art history and popular culture.”

"Opportunities like this are few and will be fewer," he added, given that it is "the most significant 20th-century painting to be auctioned in a generation."

When announcing its sale in March, Christie's stressed that it is one of the rarest and most important images in existence.

"Andy Warhol's Marilyn is the absolute pinnacle of American pop and the promise of the American dream that encompasses optimism, fragility, celebrity and iconography at once," Rotter said in a statement.

Following the tragic end of the actress, in August 1962, Warhol dedicated four serigraphs to her that he titled

all the same size but with different colors.

One of them, the

, was auctioned in 1998 for 17 million.

The abyssal difference with the auctioned off this Monday - eyes painted in sage color, platinum blonde hair and red lips - lies, according to Rotter, in its status as a work of art, "at the height of the Mona Lisa, Botticelli's Venus and the Young Ladies of Avignon by Picasso”, pointed out the expert.

The auction of this Marilyn also puts an end to a particular duel, posthumously: the rivalry, parallel to their camaraderie, between Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, his young friend, who snatched from him the honor of being the most valued American artist with a skull auctioned in 2017 for 110 million dollars, five million more than the record previously held by Warhol, for a work sold in 2013. Five years later, the most celebrated representative of pop art has taken revenge and defeated by KO his friend Basquiat, given the love of boxing they both shared and the pugilistic winks that crossed in their respective works.

The auction held on Monday night - the season always opens on the first day of the week - is considered a thermometer of the next two weeks of sales, as well as an indicator of the general health of a global market that does not seem to have been excessively damaged by the pandemic, judging by the results harvested in the autumn session, the first with an audience in theaters in two years, and sales of stratospheric figures such as the 73 million paid for a Rothko.

Despite the fact that New York is at a medium level of alert for coronavirus, the expectation around the first auction of the fortnight was evident this weekend in the showrooms of the Christie's headquarters, where the public could contemplate the lots , including the unattainable Marilyn.

The auctioned Warhol belongs to the collection of Thomas and Doris Ammann, Swiss businessmen.

It is part of a lot of 36 pieces, the amount of whose sale will be used to finance the foundation of programs for children that bears his name.

The buyer of the Marilyn will be able to decide, thanks to an unusual agreement, to which charity allocates 20% of the auction price of the painting, Christie's announced this Sunday.

In total, the spring auctions may reach $2 billion in sales, according to experts, in part due to a balance of savings from the retraction of buyers during the two years of the pandemic, with Asian collectors earning more and more. leading role to the detriment of the Russian millionaires, constrained by the political situation.

Among the 36 pieces that make up the

, other exclusives stand out, such as two paintings by Cy Towmbly, with a starting price of between 10 and 15 million dollars each;

a painting of flowers by Warhol, around 20 million and, together again his friend Warhol and him, a Basquiat between 6 and 8 million.

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