FT Weekend: What Warhol’s Marilyn tells us about the art market
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 18 June 2022
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Last month, Andy Warhol's "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn" sold for $195mn, making it the second most expensive piece of art to sell at auction, ever. And as prices keep going up, the art market — auction houses, gallerists, dealers, collectors — want to keep it that way. On the heels of a ‘stonking’ art season, we invite two heavy hitters into the studio to walk us through it: arts editor Jan Dalley and art market columnist Melanie Gerlis. Then, Christie's head of 20th- and 21st-century art, Alex Rotter, pulls back the curtain on these record-breaking sales.
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Want to say hi? We love hearing from you. Email us at ftweekendpodcast@ft.com. We’re on Twitter @ftweekendpod, and Lilah is on Instagram and Twitter @lilahrap.
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Links and mentions from the episode:
– Melanie’s article ‘Art Basel’s Swiss fair defies gloomy economy with soaring sales’: https://on.ft.com/3QtSagn
– Melanie’s auction season roundup: https://on.ft.com/38jn363
– Columnist John Gapper on how ‘The art market cannot get enough Andy Warhol Marilyns’: https://on.ft.com/3O3GeAm
– Jan’s most recent art column, on whether we should send art back to Russia: https://on.ft.com/3OeLzF2
– Robert Armstrong’s profile of Larry Gagosian: https://on.ft.com/3IfT0sD
– Melanie’s books are called The Art Fair Story and Art as an Investment?
– Melanie is on Twitter @mgerlis, and Alex is on Instagram @rottweilernyc.
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Special offers for Weekend listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial are here: http://ft.com/weekendpodcast.
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Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The FT News Briefing is supported by Equinole, the UK's energy partner. |
| 0:06.2 | Learn more at equinole.co.uk |
| 0:11.2 | It's summer, and you know what that means. |
| 0:13.9 | It's time for a Plymouth gin and tonic. |
| 0:16.7 | So grab yourself a glass and some ice. |
| 0:19.7 | Start with a pourer of Plymouth gin, |
| 0:22.5 | which is distilled using a blend of seven botanicals. |
| 0:25.8 | Add in some tonic, |
| 0:28.0 | then finish with a slice of orange. |
| 0:31.4 | Now that is the perfect gin and tonic. |
| 0:34.8 | Plymouth gin distilled with care and craft in England since 1793. |
| 0:40.8 | A month ago, Christie's Auction House sold Andy Warhol's painting |
| 0:44.7 | Shot Sage Blue Maryland for a record breaking $170 million. |
| 0:50.7 | That's $195 million with fees. |
| 0:53.5 | Good evening everyone. Welcome to Christie's for the sale of Thomas |
| 0:57.6 | and Doris Aman's Great Collection. |
| 0:59.7 | The painting became the most expensive piece of 20th century art and American art |
| 1:04.7 | ever to be sold at Auction. |
| 1:07.5 | I was there that night at the back of the room, |
| 1:09.7 | and over the course of two hours, I watched this collection of artworks sell for hundreds |
| 1:14.3 | of millions of dollars. |
| 1:16.5 | The room was lit up in bright lights and professionally live streamed for millions of people |
... |
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