ART

Would You Pay $195 Million for an Andy Warhol?

In 2022, somebody did just that. But why? There’s a reason the bad boy of Pop Art is still important and still a rock star.

Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans (1961–1962) at the Museum of Modern Art. Photo by Gorup de Basenez via Wikimedia Commons (2008)

You may not think the iconic Andy Warhol is in the same league as Michelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci, but some people think enough of him to pay top dollar for his work.

In 2022, one of Warhol’s paintings fetched $195 million at Christie’s — the highest price ever paid at auction for a work by an American artist.

But it wasn’t his famous Campbell’s Soup Cans (also known as 32 Campbell’s Soup Cans) that put Warhol’s work on a list of the most expensive paintings in the world.

Can you guess which one cost that much cheddar?

Was it his portrait of Mick Jagger, Liza Minelli, or John Wayne? How about Elizabeth Taylor? Or even one of Warhol’s many self-portraits?

Nope. It was a silkscreen of Marilyn Monroe. Like Warhol’s art, Marilyn was the reproduction of an original. The lovely Norma Jean Mortenson — refashioned by Hollywood into an entirely new product.

Andy Warhol produced several paintings of the troubled actor after her death in 1962. All were based…