A 71.4 Million Dollar Warhol is Really Expensive

by Art Fag City on May 21, 2007 · 10 comments Events

Andy Warhol, Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I), 1963

I know we are little late to the table with this news, but if you haven’t already seen it, dealer Edward Winkleman discusses the Andy Warhol painting Green Car Crash that sold for 71.4 million last week at Christies on CNBC. It’s hard not to find Winkleman’s commentary compelling as he is incredibly articulate, though I have to say that unlike him I don’t think that the 71 million dollar Warhol painting is a good price. As was stated several times during the interview, a work is worth whatever a buyer is willing to pay for it, but these really aren’t the answers people are looking for when they ask whether a painting is “worth” it. All we really want to know is whether the painting will maintain or increase in value. In short, my answer to this is no, though I don’t have more insight than anyone else on when these prices will level/drop off. Warhol was expensive last year, and the year before that, and the year before that. In fact, it was only three years ago that I worked at a blue chip gallery that got out of the Warhol market due to the belief that the work was over valued, so I can tell you I’m not the only one in the city who thinks these prices aren’t sustainable. If the business practice of at least a couple galleries in this city reflects this thought, my advice to buyers can only be to proceed with caution.

Update: See Edward Winkleman’s response here.

{ 10 comments }

cooky May 21, 2007 at 7:04 pm

way to advise the suits! so str8laced of you…

cooky May 21, 2007 at 3:04 pm

way to advise the suits! so str8laced of you…

Art Fag City May 21, 2007 at 7:48 pm

You are hilarious!

Art Fag City May 21, 2007 at 3:48 pm

You are hilarious!

Edward May 21, 2007 at 8:53 pm

Well, no one has that crystal ball, of course, but I respond with my rationale on the blog.

Thanks for saying I was articulate! I felt like a nervous wreck.

Edward May 21, 2007 at 4:53 pm

Well, no one has that crystal ball, of course, but I respond with my rationale on the blog.

Thanks for saying I was articulate! I felt like a nervous wreck.

Art Fag City May 21, 2007 at 9:15 pm

And what a great post! It’s going to take me a full day to respond!

And no thanks necessary. It was an honest observation.

Art Fag City May 21, 2007 at 5:15 pm

And what a great post! It’s going to take me a full day to respond!

And no thanks necessary. It was an honest observation.

Brian Appel August 15, 2008 at 2:36 am

Did anyone actually see this painting one-on-one? I was there at Christie’s at the preview looking at it for 35 minutes straight… and I can tell you it was THE most mesmerizing commentary on the human condition I’ve ever experienced. The multiple overlapping images of that horrific scene of horror complete with a passerby just walking by without the slightest acknowledgment of the tragedy was, well unbelievable. The image was scavenged from a newspaper photograph taken by a journalist who had just happened to be passing by that fateful day… the acid green repeating over and over again with that man hanging from that telephone pole like Christ from the cross… there is nothing… will never be anything like it again.

Brian Appel August 14, 2008 at 9:36 pm

Did anyone actually see this painting one-on-one? I was there at Christie’s at the preview looking at it for 35 minutes straight… and I can tell you it was THE most mesmerizing commentary on the human condition I’ve ever experienced. The multiple overlapping images of that horrific scene of horror complete with a passerby just walking by without the slightest acknowledgment of the tragedy was, well unbelievable. The image was scavenged from a newspaper photograph taken by a journalist who had just happened to be passing by that fateful day… the acid green repeating over and over again with that man hanging from that telephone pole like Christ from the cross… there is nothing… will never be anything like it again.

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