Warhol's black & white Coca-cola
Andy Warhol’s black and white canvas wall art of a Coca-cola bottle fetched $35.36 million at a Sotheby’s auction last Tuesday, November 9.
The Warhol canvas wall art lifted total sales of the contemporary and post-war art auction to $222.5 million beating the estimate of $214 million. Out of 54 pieces of wall art at the auction, 91% found buyers.
Post war and contemporary canvas wall art are increasingly becoming popular as seen on last Tuesday’s Sotheby’s auction where 5 artists set records. Tobias Meyer, Sotheby’s worldwide chief of contemporary art, said that this new market is increasingly becoming popular.
Art sales crashed after the 2008 financial crisis but is making a come back in 2010. The Sotheby’s auction on Tuesday was the 4th successful auction in 2 weeks including a Christie’s and Phillips de Pury & Co. auction. Sales are driven by an infusion of new buyers with wealth made in gas, oil and gold.
Warhol’s “Coca-Cola (4) (Large Coca-Cola)” led the auction beating the pre-sell estimate price of $25 million, proving once more that the appetite for post war canvas wall art is increasing. In recent years, contemporary and post war canvas wall art are surpassing the demands for formerly popular Impressionist canvas wall art.
Warhol's "Men in Her Life" sold for $63.3 million at a Phillips auction in NYC
The increase in demand and prices for Warhol’ s canvas wall art has put the artist in the same level as Picasso and Matisse, according to Meyer. Another canvas wall art by Warhol, “Men in Her Life” a multi-image canvas wall art of Elizabeth Taylor, in silk screen and pencil on primed canvas, fetched $63.4 million at a Phillips auction on Monday.
