Andy Warhol’s portrait of Marilyn Monroe is one of the most iconic works. It’s hard to say whether it’s because of his exceptional technique or because of his exceptional personality, whose name was the definition of an icon in itself in the 20th century. The name and image of this extraordinary woman continue to be recognized by almost everyone over time.
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe (Norma Jean Mortenson) (1926-1962) – film actress, and singer.
Norma Jean was born in Los Angeles on June 1, 1926. The first six years in the biography of Marilyn Monroe were spent in a foster family. Never finished her studies, she married Jim Dougherty. She worked briefly at an aircraft factory, after which she devoted herself to the modeling business.
In 1946, an important event occurred in the biography of Marilyn Monroe – she began to collaborate with the 20th Century Fox film studio. Then she took the name Marilyn and her grandmother’s surname. But she did not manage to get a full-fledged role right away. In 1948, the first film in the biography of Marilyn Monroe was shot at the Columbia Pictures studio, where the actress fully showed herself. The year before, she had made her first small scenes in the films Terrible Miss Pilgrim, Way-a-Way! Skudda-hey! But the main role she first got in the film “Asphalt Jungle”.
The actress is also known for her novels. In 1954, in the biography of Monroe, a wedding took place with playwright Arthur Miller. Marilyn lived with him for 4 years. The sensational love story of Monroe and John F. Kennedy began in 1961, however, their relationship is considered rumors that have no evidence.
The history of the picture of Marilyn Monroe
In 1962, Warhol, who by that time was the most popular artist in New York, became interested in photographic silk-screen printing. Later, it was this technique that became his signature style. The artist himself explained that the stamping method he had previously used seemed to him too self-made. And he wanted to produce a stronger effect than conveyor stamping.
The first portraits in the new technique were images of American artists Troy Donahue and Warren Beatty, but the sudden death of Marilyn Monroe made such a strong impression on the artist that in just two weeks he made her first portrait.
It was “Marilyn’s Diptych”, which was based on a photograph from the film “Niagara” with Monroe in the title role. It was there that the actress first appeared in the image of a sexy blonde, which brought her fame and love of millions.
Warhol removed small details from the photo, added maximum contrast, brought the image closer to the comic book, and then transferred the stencil to a canvas measuring two by three meters. Moreover, the right part was deliberately left black and white with visible technical flaws, and the left part was painted.
Since the creation of the diptych, Andy Warhol had a special relationship with the image of a movie star. His contemporaries said that the artist to some extent identified himself with Marilyn Monroe. On the one hand, throughout his career, he strove for the same fame and fame. On the other hand, he ridiculed society for its obsession with material values.
Portrait of Marilyn Monroe
In 1964, the artist completed a new series of portraits of Monroe. These were the same images of the actress, only on different color backgrounds: red, orange, blue, and turquoise. Warhol kept the paintings in his studio on East 47th Street in Manhattan. One day, his acquaintance, the artist Dorothy Podber, went there. She saw the finished paintings stacked against each other and asked Andy if she could “take them off”. Warhol thought that Podber wanted to photograph them. However, Dorothy drew her revolver and shot through four portraits of Monroe. Turquoise Marilyn was not in the stack.
The shot punched holes right in the center of the forehead in the actress’s image. Warhol was shocked, but not at a loss. He painted over the bullet holes, preserving the trace of the shot on the canvases. And later, he not only made this story public, renaming the series “Marilyn Shot,” but also sold the paintings twice as much.
At the cost of a portrait of Marilyn Monroe
For a long time, the record for the price at auction belonged to “Orange Marilyn”: in 1998 it was sold at Sotheby’s for $17.3 million. In 2007, “Turquoise Marilyn” was first sold at an unofficial auction for $80 million. Warhol: “Eight Elvises” ($100 million) and “Crash of the Silver Car” ($105.4 million).
Portrait of actress Marilyn Monroe called Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, made by artist Andy Warhol in 1964, was auctioned by Christie’s in May this year
Portrait of Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol went under the hammer once again in May 2022.
Although the picture was expected to fetch $200 million, the final price was $195 million. According to Bloomberg, thus, the painting became the most expensive work of art of the 20th century sold at auction, the most expensive American work of art participating in the auction, and the second most expensive work in the world sold publicly (in first place – painting by Leonardo da Vinci Salvator Mundi, which went under the hammer for $450 million).
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