New sales record for "Blue Marilyn" by Andy Warhol?

New sales record?
A 1960s portrait of Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol will be sold at Christie's in May. Shot Sage Blue Marilyn (1964) is expected to sell for around $200 million. If it meets expectations, the sale could nearly double Warhol's current record of $105.4 million, set when his 1963 Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) was sold at Sotheby's in 2013.
The silkscreen painting shows a press photograph from the 1953 film Niagara of the actress. This image was used by warhol repeatedly on his work until his death in 1987. The work is being sold from the estate of Swiss art dealers Thomas and Doris Ammann, brothers who co-founded Thomas Ammann Fine Art in 1977—a gallery known for attracting collectors of modern and contemporary art. . All proceeds from the sale of the Warhol portrait will benefit his eponymous foundation, a charity created by the family trustees to benefit causes related to the health and education of children around the world. The Foundation is set to run for a period of just 3 to 5 years until funds from the sale of warhol are distributed in full, a Christie's spokesperson said in a statement.

The sale of the portrait warhol marks another boost for the post-pandemic art market, as large, highly anticipated shipments become available from the collections of Silent Generation collectors. Before Thomas Ammann acquired the work in the 1970s, it belonged to New York publisher and collector SI Newhouse. Andy Warhol produced only five versions of the current painting, the rest remaining in the private hands of major collectors such as American investors Peter Brant and Ken Griffin. Regarding the importance of the work, Alex Rotter, president of Christie's art of the 20th and 21st centuries, said at a press conference at the house's headquarters in New York, “this painting was a mystery to many people in the art world. When a painting like this comes up at auction, it changes the market not only for Warhol, but it changes the market itself.”