First a Picasso takes in a record $106.5MM at auction, and now Andy Warhol's 1986 self-portrait has sold for $32.5MM, more than double its estimate. The art world is rich again! The 9-foot purple portrait sold at Sotheby's yesterday, where Tom Ford put it up on the block. The buyer is anonymous, but he/she just laid down the most money ever for a Warhol self-portrait. According to the NY Times, "the competition made for good entertainment. Six bidders wanted to buy." There are four other similar portraits out there, all in different colors; two are at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh (blue and yellow), one is at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth (green), and newspaper magnate Peter M. Brant owns the red one.
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