Andy Warhol ‘Car Crash’ Painting Returns To Auction After 35 Years—And Could Net $80 Million

Topline

A rare silkscreen painting by Andy Warhol from one of his most pivotal series is expected to sell for more than $80 million when it goes to auction next month for the first time in 35 years, auction house Sotheby’s says.

Key Facts

“White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times),” which features repeated images of a contorted automobile after a major collision, is from Warhol’s 1960s Death and Disaster series, in which the artist used silkscreens of oftentimes graphic images to explore dark themes.

The painting is estimated by Sotheby’s to fetch in excess of $80 million when it goes up for sale November 16, but David Galperin, the auction house’s head of contemporary art in New York, told Forbes that with a work of “this quality and rarity and immense visual power, the sky’s the limit.”

The last time the painting went to auction in 1987, it sold at Christie’s for $650,000, though it has been resold privately since then.

The work is directly related to Warhol’s “Silver Car Crash 2 (Double disaster),” a piece from the same series that sold for $105.4 million at Sotheby’s in 2013 and until earlier this year was the most valuable Warhol work to ever sell at auction (both pieces use the same car crash image and were created the same year).

Pieces from Warhol’s Death and Disaster series are among the most desirable among art collectors, Galperin said, noting that over the past 15 years, only two large scale works from the series have come to auction and they both set new artist records.

Within the series only three major works contain this specific car crash image, Galperin said—the painting up for auction next month, the record-breaking work that sold in 2013 and a piece in the Museum of Modern Art’s collection in New York—making the chance to purchase for a private collection a “once in a generation opportunity.”

What To Watch For

The work will go on public display for the first time in 15 years starting November 4 as part of a pre-sale exhibition at Sotheby’s gallery in New York.

Big Number

$195 million. That’s how much a Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe sold for in May. It was not only the most expensive piece by Warhol to sell at auction, but it also set records for an American artist and the most valuable 20th century painting. Dealer Larry Gagosian purchased the painting, but it’s unclear if he did so for himself or on behalf of one of his billionaire clients.

Tangent

The Monroe portrait sold as part of a larger auction of the personal collection of Swiss art dealer Thomas Ammann, a friend of Warhol’s. Ammann also sold “White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times)” to its current owner in 1996 for an undisclosed sum, Galperin told Forbes.

Key Background

Warhol is cemented in both art history and the art market as one of the most important artists of the 20th century. Along with the record-breaking Monroe portrait, there’s been a recent resurgence of interest in the late artist more than three centuries after his death in 1987. The Brooklyn Museum last year put on an exhibit examining the relationship between Warhol’s work and his strong Catholic faith. Earlier this year, Netflix premiered a docuseries based on Warhol’s memoirs called The Andy Warhol Diaries, and at least three stage productions featuring Warhol have opened in New York and London this year. The Supreme Court is hearing a copyright case that deals with a print Warhol created based on a photograph of the singer Prince.

Further Reading

The Andy Warhol Diaries: Artist’s Images Of Famous Friends Fetch More Than $1 Million At Auction (Forbes)

Why Larry Gagosian Bought Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe Portrait For A Record $195 Million (Forbes)

Andy Warhol’s Pop Portrait Of Queen Elizabeth On Display For Her Platinum Jubilee (Forbes)

Art Market Surpassed Pre-Pandemic Levels In 2021 With $65 Billion In Sales, Report Says (Forbes)