Thursday, May 12, 2011

Andy Warhol First Self Portrait Goes for $38 Million at Auction

So much for deflation.

Get a load of this:

The painting,"Self-Portrait," a four-panel acrylic silk-screen from 1963-64 in hues of blue depicting the pop artist wearing a trench coat and sunglasses,was sold by the family of Detroit collector Florence Barron, who commissioned the work for $1,600 nearly half a century ago, making payments on an installment plan.

Other highlights, according to Reuters. included an untitled Mark Rothko from 1961 which fetched $33.7 million, soaring far past the high estimate of $22 million, and a Warhol self-portrait from 1986, among his last, which sold for $27.5 million, missing the $30 million low estimate.
 
Overall. the auction totaled $301.68 million in sales, beating the high pre-sale estimate, and set records for several artists. Only three of the 65 works on offer failed to sell, for an extraordinarily high sell-through rate of 95 percent

3 comments:

  1. Glad to see that some people are wealthy enough to waste money on such things. Would not be what I'd be buying.

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  2. "So much for deflation."

    Woah! That seems a bit sloppy but alright.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You forgot to include Krugman's thoughts on these prices.

    ReplyDelete