Setting a new auction record, Andy Warhol’s vibrant portrait of Hollywood actor Marilyn Monroe was sold at a bid of $195 million at Christie’s on Monday, according to AFP.

‘Shot Sage Blue Marilyn’ has managed to surpass Jean-Michel Basquiat’s $110.5 million artwork, which previously was the costliest piece of art ever sold at an auction by an American artist.

The silk-screen painting has also outshined its artist’s previous record of a $105.4 million painting known as ‘Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)’ which was sold in 2013. 

The iconic screenprint went under the hammer as a component of an art collection of Swiss sibling duo Doris and Thomas Ammann. 

A portion of the sale is dedicated to Ammann’s eponymic foundation that contributes to charities for children. Christie’s previously said that the winning bidder could select a nonprofit organization of their choice in order to avail 20% of the proceeds after getting the approval of the nonprofit. 

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Warhol, who died in 1987, made ‘Shot Sage Blue Marilyn’ two years after the mysterious death of Monroe. To create the silkscreen painting, he used a promotional image from ‘Niagara’, a 1953 film starring Monroe and Jean Peters.

Warhol added colourful elements to the painting, with plump red lips, dramatic blue eyeshadow, and a pink complexion. ‘Shot Sage Blue Marilyn’ belongs to ‘Shot Marilyns’, a series of artwork that portrays the iconic actor in several colours. According to rumours, the art pieces were shot in the forehead with a bullet by an unidentified woman who visited Warhol’s art studio in New York. 

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“‘Shot Sage Blue Marilyn’ is the absolute pinnacle of American pop,” said Alex Rotter, chairman of 20th and 21st Century Art at Christie’s, according to the New York Post.

“The painting transcends the genre of portraiture, superseding 20th-century art and culture,” Rotter added.