The Warhol That Set Elaine Sturtevant's Auction Record

Elaine Sturtevant's Warhol Diptych (1973/2014) sold for $5.09m at Christie's in New York on May 13, 2015.

The silkscreen inks and acrylic on canvas work had been traded 5 times in the past.

In 2006, it had set a then auction record for the artist when it sold for $460,000 at Christie's New York.

Sturtevant (1924–2014) was an American artist known for mimicking the works of her contemporaries and so challenging originality and authorship in art.

Some artist and collectors were outraged by her appropriations but Andy Warhol was not one of them. He lent his original screens of Marylin Monroe to Sturtevant so she could create her own "Warhol".

When quizzed about his silkscreen works, he famously deadpanned: "I don't know. Ask Elaine."

Warhol Diptych (1973/2014) was presented by the Pinault Collection in the exhibition "Au-delà de la couleur" in Rennes in 2021. It also featured in the artist's posthumous survey at MoMA, which opened months after Sturtevant's death at 89.

The sale beat the Sturtevant's previous auction record by $1.68m, a 49% rise. Her previous record was set by Lichtenstein, Frighten Girl (1966), which sold for $3.41m at Christie's on November 12, 2014. The work had been traded twice in the past.

A Brief History of Elaine Sturtevant at Auction