The power and limits of pop culture

Any question that Marilyn Monroe stays as powerful a figure now as she was in 1964 was erased final Monday. That is when Kim Kardashian stole the exhibit at the Fulfilled Gala by putting on the frock in which Monroe famously serenaded President John F. Kennedy. (A further history: It is the most highly-priced dress ever sold at auction, just after fetching $4.8 million in 2016.)

Why it issues: Cultural relevance “can by no means damage” an artwork’s price, claims Sotheby’s Jimenez. But when it arrives to crucial performs like “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn,” the existence of a thing like Netflix’s Warhol documentary is not likely to transfer the needle on price tag.

The massive image: The Andy Warhol Foundation will get no revenue when 1 of Warhol’s paintings modifications arms — that is just a transaction among the purchaser, the vendor, and almost certainly some seller or auction household in the middle.

• The Basis does get money from licensing charges, and owns the copyright on most of the images, but these types of profits is fairly small. In the artwork entire world, copyright is well worth a lot significantly less than objects.
• The Foundation’s most latest tax filing exhibits overall assets of $337 million, and whole income of $13.9 million — of which just $3.56 million was “other earnings” that consists of licensing charges.

The bottom line: The most critical and beneficial Warhol artworks do not belong to his foundation, or even to the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. In its place, is effective like MoMA’s “Campbell’s Soup Cans,” or the Tate’s 1962 “Marilyn Diptych,” belong to museums that will under no circumstances sell them.

Editor’s observe: This tale originally released on May possibly 12.