Arts News
Warhol's 'Green Burning Car' could fetch record 35 million dollars
By DPA
Apr 10, 2007, 0:42 GMT

New York - Andy Warhol's dramatic 1963 silk print 'Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I)' is expected to fetch a new record price for the artist of 25 to 35 million dollars, Christie's auction house said Monday.

The artwork is part of Warhol's early series 'Death and Disaster' to go under the hammer on May 16.

To date, the highest price for a Warhol was the 17.4 million dollars paid by Hong Kong billionaire Joseph Lau in November 2006 - for the blue 'Mao' from 1972.

Warhol died unexpectedly in 1987 after a gall bladder operation in a New York hospital.

The Green Car Crash piece shows multiple views of a wrecked car in smoke and flames, with a man hanging from a pole nearby and a passer- by nonchalantly watching with hands in pocket.

The photo-silk screen was in a private collection for more than three decades, and belongs to the three top offers of post-World War II art up for sale this spring.

The other top two offerings have gone to rival Sotheby's - a 1962 papal portrait from Francis Bacon expected to fetch 30 million dollars and Mark Rothko's 1950 portrait of David Rockefeller, valued at 40 million dollars.