Andy Warhol's Four Marilyns makes $38.2m

Andy Warhol's 1962 silkscreen Four Marilyns led Phillips' auction of contemporary art on May 16, bringing $38.2m. The work sold securely within its $35m-50m estimate.

Works by Warhol - the top selling artist at auction in 2012 - have proven consistently popular among investors and collectors alike.

Andy Warhol auction
Courtney Love told Bloomberg she considered Four Marilyns “a little overrated”

In May 2011, Phillips sold Warhol's 1963 work Liz #5 for $24m, while the pop-artist's 1962 silkscreen Men in Her Life brought $56.5m to Phillips in November 2010.

Rock star widow of Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love, attended the New York auction. Although the musician declined to say whether or not she bought anything, she did discuss her collecting habits with Bloomberg.

"I collect sporadically and mostly women artists," she told the online publication. "Generally I bid by phone."

She also confided that she thought Warhol's Four Marilyns "a little overrated".

We currently have this iconic Andy Warhol-worn black polo neck sweater in stock - yours today for just £9,950.

Earlier this week, art history was made at Christie's contemporary sale in New York. $495m was grossed in a single session - a record for any auction, with works by Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein and Jean-Michel Basqiat leading the charge.

Following the record-breaking sale, Christie's Jussi Pylkkanen asserted: "We are now in a new era of the art market. There is global competition that we have never seen in the art world before."

For more information, see Paul Fraser Collectibles' free guide to investing in art and photography.

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