Andy Warhol’s ‘Nine Marilyns’ at Sotheby’s

Andy Warhol’s ‘Nine Marilyns’ – one of his first silkscreens of MM, rendered in smudgy black and white – is heading to auction at Sotheby’s on November 15, as Oliver Duff reports for The i Paper. The story merited an inset on yesterday’s front page, marking Marilyn’s second cover appearance in this week’s UK newspapers (following the Star‘s ridiculous UFO story.) Let’s just say the painting will fetch a lot more than the newspaper’s bargain price of 65p.

“The divorce of Harry and Linda Macklowe has been eye-bogglingly rancorous.

After 59 years of marriage, the property tycoon (him) and the vice-president of the Guggenheim Foundation (her) have struggled to separate their assets, which included two Manhattan apartments (one valued at $72m), a $19m Hamptons estate, 150-foot yacht and $1bn art collection.

The auctioneers have never seen anything like it. The booty going under their hammer includes nine Picassos, Warhol’s ‘Nine Marilyns’ ($60m), a Pollock (estimated value $35m) and Rothko’s ‘No 7’ ($80m).

These warring octogenarians have created a feeding frenzy among dealers, museums and auction houses.

In so doing, they have proven the point that Tracey Emin made in 1998 with her ‘My Bed’ piece. One person’s dirty laundry is another’s modern art.”

And here’s the description from Sotheby’s…

“Andy Warhol, Nine Marilyns, 1962. Estimate: $40–60 million

Rendered in succession with startling clarity and crispness against a luminous metallic background — conjuring the silver screen of the cinema — Warhol captures Monroe’s visage with a haunting power. From the time of Monroe’s death in August 1962 to the end of that year, Warhol created 20 silkscreen paintings based on a famous 1953 publicity photograph of Monroe from the film Niagara. Of those 20, there are only six serial Marilyn paintings in which her face is repeated in nine or more screens. This work is one of just two from this select group still in private hands.”

Thanks to A Passion for Marilyn

UPDATE: Andy Warhol’s ‘Nine Marilyns’ silkscreen was sold at Sotheby’s in New York today for $48.5 million, with the Macklowe auction raising $676 million in total, BBC News reports.