Now, for the first time you have a chance to bid online for Andy Warhol’s original masterpieces. Christie’s auction house will put Warhol’s 125 works under the hammer in an online-only sale, which starts today and runs until March 5. This will be the first of several online auctions scheduled for 2013. Interested buyers can browse and bid online for 125 paintings, drawings and photographs by one of the art world’s richest and most fascinating subjects, with estimated values ranging from $600 to $70,000.
The online sale “will greatly expand access to Andy Warhol’s work, in a fundamentally democratic manner that is entirely consistent with his art”, said Joel Wachs, president of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
Campbell’s Chicken with Rice Soup
Warhol’s 1964 “Campbell’s Chicken with Rice Soup,” a tin soup can filled with concrete, which is one of several produced by him, is expected to be a highlight of the online sale with a pre-sale estimate ranging from $50,000 to $70,000.
“I Love Your Kiss Forever Forever,” a lithograph based on an image of Marilyn Monroe’s lips, could fetch as much as $5,000, and “Self-Portrait,” a Polaroid print taken in 1986 the year before Warhol’s death, has a pre-sale estimate of up to $25,000.
Another highlight is a T-shirt with the silk-screened image of Warhol’s painting, “Self-Portrait in Fright Wig,” which sold for $50,000 auction last year. It is expected to sell for as much as $20,000.
Amy Cappellazzo, chairwoman of Post-War and Contemporary Development at Christie’s believes that Warhol, who died in 1987 before the Internet became globally accessible, would have approved of the cybersale.
“Andy would have loved the Internet. He would have loved the idea that his works could be distributed far and wide and that anyone who wanted one, could get one because bringing the works to an online format will allow anyone with a credit card to buy it. I think, for sure, he would have liked that.”
The proceeds will benefit the Andy Warhol Foundation, which in turn offers financial support to artists and non-profit artist associations.
Self-Portrait in Fright Wig
I Love Your Kiss Forever Forever
Andy Warhol Self-Portrait
