Andy Warhol’s First Selfie Could Sell for Millions at Sotheby’s Auction
One of Andy Warhol’s first selfie is set to go under the hammer at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening auction in London. See for how much it could sell!
Created in the early sixties when he first became famous for his portrayals of celebrities, this selife is set to sell for around $9 million.
Back then, he used to create candid portrayals of famous people such as Marilyn Monroe and many more.
The Self-Portrait represents “the moment that Warhol stepped out from behind the camera and into the glare of its flashbulb”.
“In the age of Instagram, Warhol’s fabled prediction that ‘in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes’ has never felt more prophetic,” said James Sevier, senior specialist in contemporary art at Sotheby’s.
“This is a work of immense art historical importance that marks the watershed moment when Warhol joined the canon of the greatest self-portraitists.”
The portrait, painted from a strip of photograph taken in a New York dime store photo-booth.
At the time, people saw the decision to use images from a booth as innovative. And it even suited the artist’s vision for a new type of art for the pop era.
Why did he do the self-portrait series?
The artist made this series of self-portraits at the behest of Detroit collector Florence Barron.
She wanted her own portrait done but Ivan Karp, an art dealer, managed to change both artist and patron minds. Instead of doing Barron’s portrait Warhol did a self-portrait.
Ivan convinced Warhol that a self-portraiture series would benefit him, and has been trying to make it do it for some time.
He said at the time: “You know, people want to see you. Your looks are responsible for a certain part of your fame – they feed the imagination.”
Andy Warhol’s first selfie has been a part of a private collection since 1980. Now it is up for auction, 30 years after the artist’s death in 1987.
On 28th June, this piece of art work will go under the hammer. We can’t wait to see how much it will sell for.
**Check out our video if you want to find out more about Andy Warhol:
