Andy Warhol masterpiece from Death And Disaster series sells for £72 million
The rare masterpiece White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times) went under the hammer in New York on Wednesday.
Andy Warhol’s masterpiece White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times), has sold for £72 million, one of the highest prices ever achieved for a work by the artist at auction.
The rare work from the US artist’s celebrated Death And Disaster series garnered almost a third of the total sum raised by an evening of contemporary sales at Sotheby’s on Wednesday night.
Taking place in New York, the sale totalled £265 million, the auction house said.
The 1963 piece is considered one of the most provocative and haunting artistic achievements of the 20th century and “arguably the most significant achievement of his career”, Sotheby’s said.
The work, from a private collection where it has been for 25 years, is the first large painting from Warhol’s Death And Disaster series to come to auction since 2013 when Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) made 105.4 million dollars (£91 million) – a record for the artist at the time.
Measuring 12ft tall, it is the largest of all Warhol’s single-panel Car Crash works.
The Sotheby’s auction on Wednesday also saw strong prices for works from celebrated collections, including from the de Kooning Family Collection, The Collection of Geraldine and Harold Alden, The Mallin Collection, and The Collection of William S Paley.
