Andy Warhol Self Portrait, Painted in 1963-1964
The highest selling item at a Christie’s auction in New York Wednesday was a signed and dated self-portrait by pop art icon Andy Warhol.
Self-Portrait sold for $38 million in a nail-biting bidding war that lasted 16 minutes. The work, a framed series of four blue portraits from 1964, was estimated to sell for up to $30 million. But competition raised the price point and the number crept up as the bidding match became the longest in auction history. A European caller eventually won the painting. The post-war and contemporary art auction featured 62 paintings in total and brought in a revenue of over $300 million.