Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn)

Medium: Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Year: 1967
Sheet: 6×6 inches (15.5 x 15.5 cm)
Edition: 100
Artist’s Proofs: unknown number
Printer: Aetna Silkscreen Products
Publisher: Factory Additions, New-York
Published to announce the publication of the Marilyn portfolio
Literature: Feldman & Schellmann II.21

Signed and dated in pencil, stamp-numbered (on the verso)

Bold, bright, beautiful, blonde: it could only be Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn). An electric palette of vibrant pink, yellow and green collide to emphasize Monroe’s infamous curly bob and characteristic expression determined by parted lips and heavy–lidded eyes. Whilst the pair never met, Warhol and Monroe’s relationship was more than just creator and model. The artist was deeply impacted by the actress’s sudden death in 1962, which prompted him to immortalize the Hollywood starlet through the power of print. Warhol worked from a publicity still of the celebrity taken from the film Niagara, 1953, rendering her in numerous sizes and colours to create one of the most sought after series to date. By cropping the image, the artist draws immediate focus to the starlet’s striking facial features. A contrasting color palette creates a deliberately flat surface, transforming the celebrity into a symbol and emblem of American Pop art.

This mini Marilyn was released the same as his portfolio of ten silkscreen prints and employs the same striking visual effect which stems directly from Warhol’s mastery of screenprinting – the medium which defined his career. After sustained success in film, Warhol announced his retirement from painting and founded his own print publishing business in 1966, named Factory Additions. Coinciding with the print publication boom, the artist capitalized on the ability afforded by the silkscreen to lift images directly from mass media. Rather than creating a realistic portrait, Warhol experimented with five different screens, misaligning colour layers and facial features to create a deliberate impression of artificiality and mechanical reproduction. In this Marilyn, Warhol’s theatrical colour palette captures Monroe’s complex legacy; a star whose career redefined the concept of fame and success in the twentieth century, and as a figure of sexual liberation who declared, “I don’t mind living in a man’s world just as long as I can be a woman in it.”

Marilyn Monroe. Image: photo-fox / Alamy Stock Photo

Whilst distinctive color palettes and off–register printing enhance the industrial effect, Warhol’s persistent examination of the star across his various editions introduce nuance into sameness. Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn) becomes a complex critique of Sixties America, an era defined by mass production, consumer culture and the increasing dominance of media and celebrity culture. In the mass media, both during her life and immediately following death, Monroe was conceived as an icon rather than real human being. By endlessly repeating her image, Warhol comments on the process which Hollywood and celebrity depended on – and turns Monroe into – a product that can be manufactured and consumed. Just as Monroe stated: “I never wanted to be Marilyn– it just happened […]”, Warhol’s serial repetitions question the relentless glare of the public eye.

“The irony of Andy Warhol’s Marilyn is that
it is an icon of an icon created by an icon.”

Isabella Geist, Forbes, 23 April 2002.

Over sixty years on from her death, Warhol has ensured that Monroe remains the face of contemporary culture, capturing her ethereal beauty, tragic life story, and the zeitgeist of the Sixties. Simultaneously, Monroe has secured Warhol’s legacy, epitomizing the artist’s obsession with celebrity, beauty and death. Monroe continues to resonate with society today, still beholden to the photograph and its digital descendants. Warhol witnessed the rapid evolution of technology and understood how images are cropped, manipulated and staged to guide perception. By transforming Monroe into a mass–produced commodity, Warhol has shaped discussions around visual culture and asks us to think critically about identity in the contemporary media. Marilyn continues to provide fertile ground for contemporary artists to explore, reinterpret and reinvent. Each new iteration offering fresh insights into the themes Warhol explored, from the construction of fame to the commodification of beauty, highlighting the timelessness of Warhol and Monroe’s legacies.

Source: Phillips

Auction Results

Christie’s online: 17 July 2025
Estimated: USD 25,000 – 35,000
USD 27,720

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn) (Feldman & Schellmann II.21), 1967
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Signed in pencil on the reverse, annotated ‘A.P.’
An artist’s proof, the edition was 100

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn) (Feldman and Schellmann II.21), 1967
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Signed in pencil and stamp-numbered 21/100 (on the verso)

Doyle New-York: 1 November 2023
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 44,100

ANDY WARHOL
Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn) (F&S II.21), 1967
Color screenprint on wove paper
Signed, dated and inscribed a.p. in pencil verso
An artist’s proof aside from the edition of 100

Collection of Boling Cheng
Doyle New-York: 25 April 2023
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 56,250

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
MARILYN MONROE (MARILYN) (FELDMAN/SCHELLMANN II.21), 1967
Color screenprint on wove paper
Signed, dated and inscribed a.p. in pencil verso
An artist’s proof aside from the edition of 100
Published by Factory Additions, New York

Christie’s New-York: 20 April 2023
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 50,400

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn), 1967
Screen-print in colors on wove paper
Signed in pencil on the reverse
The edition was approximately 100

Sotheby’s New-York: 15 December 2022
Estimated: USD 25,000 – 35,000
USD 56,700

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn), 1967
Screen-print in colors on wove paper
Signed in pencil Andy Warhol, dated 67 and stamp-numbered 73/100 (on the verso)

Collection of Boling Cheng
Doyle New-York: 26 October 2022
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 62,500

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
MARILYN MONROE (MARILYN) (FELDMAN/SCHELLMANN II.21), 1967
Color screenprint on wove paper
Signed, dated and inscribed a.p. in pencil verso
An artist’s proof aside from the edition of 100
Published by Factory Additions, New York

Sotheby’s New-York: 16 September 2021
Estimated: USD 25,000 – 35,000
USD 69,300
AUCTION RECORD FOR MARILYN 21

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn) (Feldman & Schellmann II.21), 1967
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Signed in pencil on the verso
Dated and stamp-numbered 36/100
Published by Factory Additions, New York

Sotheby’s New-York: 22 April 2021
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 25,000
USD 47,880

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn) (Feldman & Schellmann II.21), 1967
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Signed in pencil on the verso, dated and inscribed ‘a.p.’
An artist’s proof aside from the numbered edition of 100
Published by Factory Additions, New York

Freeman’s: 30 October 2019
Estimated: USD 25,000 – 40,000
USD 27,500

ANDY WARHOL (American, 1928-1987)
Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn), 1967
Color screenprint on wove paper
Pencil signed and dated
Numbered a.p. verso
One of several artist’s proofs, the edition was 100

Forum Auctions: 26 June 2019
Estimated: GBP 35,000 – 45,000
GBP 32,000 (Hammer)
GBP 41,840 / USD 53,105

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn) (Feldman & Schellmann II.21), 1967
Screenprint in colors
Signed and inscribed ‘ap’ in pencil verso
An artist’s proof aside from the edition of 100

LA Modern: 17 February 2019
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 50,000
USD 53,125

ANDY WARHOL (1928–1987)
Marilyn Monroe (Marilyn), 1967
Screenprint on paper
Signed with edition in graphite verso
Artist’s proof aside from the edition of 100