Most expensive 20th-century artwork ever offered at auction

A preview of the the upcoming New York season of May sales

'Shot Sage Blue Marilyn' by Andy Warhol at Christie's.

THE most expensive 20th-century artwork ever offered at auction trumpets that the upcoming New York season of May sales promises to be exciting. A $200 million Warhol alongside art market stars from Monet and van Gogh to Georgia O’Keeffe, Basquiat and beyond look set to make this a season to remember.

Shot Sage Blue Marilyn by Andy Warhol with its eye-popping estimate is a highlight at Christie’s marquee week sales. The good news is that all proceeds from the sale of this definitive work — from the Thomas and Doris Ammann Foundation in Zurich — goes to an organisation dedicated to improving the lives of children the world over with health and educational support care. This single painting constitutes the highest-grossing philanthropic auction since the sale of the Peggy and David Rockefeller Collection in 2018.

'Portrait of the Artist as a Young Derelict' by Jean Michel Basquiat at Christie's.

Warhol first began creating silkscreens of Marilyn Monroe following her death in August 1962. In 1964 he developed a more refined and time-intensive screen printing technique to create a limited number of portraits of the actress. The technique was so difficult that he never returned to it again. Shot Sage Blue Marilyn has been exhibited at leading museums around the world including the New York Guggenheim, Tate Modern, the Pompidou, the Stedelijk and the Reina Sofia.

The historic white glove sale of 35 works from the Macklowe Collection at Sotheby’s last November brought in $676.1 million and was the most valuable single-owner sale ever staged. On May 16 Sotheby’s will offer another 30 works from the collection of this warring New York former couple now in their 80s.

'Le Grand Canal et Santa Maria della Satut' by Claude Monet at Sotheby's.

This time around expect to find major works by Mark Rothko, Gerhard Richter, Cy Twombly, Sigmar Polke, Robert Ryman, Agnes Martin, Jeff Koons and Andy Warhol. Discriminating collectors of the highest order the upcoming auction features singular works by Jean Dubuffet, Roy Lichtenstein and Donald Judd.

Rothko’s meditative Untitled from 1960 is estimated at $35m-$50m and a large-scale Richter painting Seascape from 1975 is estimated at $25m-$35m. A monumental self-portrait by Warhol, one of his final works, is estimated at $15m-$20m.

Vincent van Gogh’s Champs pres des Alpilles from 1989 comes up at Christie’s priced in the region $45 million. With all the artists trademark hallmarks it was painted while he was in the asylum at Saint-Remy.

Claude Monet’s Le Grand Canal et Santa Maria della Salute (1908), a rare masterwork from his only trip to Venice, will be a highlight at Sotheby’s Modern evening auction. The expectation is that it will make $50 million.

Basquiat’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Derelict from 1982 will be a highlight at Christie’s 21st Century evening sale. The three-part painting on a wood panel is expected to make around $30 million and was once in the collection of Keith Haring. Christie’s say it represents a highlight of Basquiat’s brief but explosive career and it stands both as a self portrait and an altarpiece.