Marilyn Art At £7.7 Million

The Telegraph reports that an Andy Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe originally bought for just £129 is up for auction - with a £7.7 million price tag. Andy Warhol's paintings are now among the most expensive pieces of 20th-century art The private collector who bought Lemon Marilyn in 1962 is set to make a 60,000 per cent profit on his investment if the picture meets its estimated value in New York next month. It is one of 13 coloured portraits which Warhol created following Monroe's death in 1962. Eight were displayed at the artist's first one-man exhibition at Eleanor Ward's Stable Art Gallery in New York, and the lemon version was subsequently bought by an unknown American collector, who has kept hold of it ever since. The portrait went on display at the auction house's London showroom today, and goes under the hammer at Christie's in New York on May 16, as part of their Post-War and Contemporary Art sale. Warhol's paintings are now among the most expensive pieces of 20th-century art. One of his screenprints of a Campbell's soup tin costs £10 million and another of his Monroe series sold for £11 million. Even a Polaroid photograph by the artist can cost up to £12,000. He died in 1987 after a gall bladder operation. Interest in Warhol has been boosted by the release of new movie Factory Girl, which stars Guy Pearce as the artist and Sienna Miller as his muse, Edie Sedgwick. (For full source and article click the Headline). Irish Art