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Introduction
Ali, 1978
2025 Auction Results
2024 Auction Results
2023 Auction Results
2022 Auction Results
Ali (F&S II.179)
Ali (F&S II.180)
Ali (F&S II.181)
Ali (F&S II.182)
Complete Sets

Introduction

At the behest of American investment banker and sports aficionado Richard Weisman, Andy Warhol embarked in the spring of 1977 on a remarkable series devoted to leading professional athletes. Portrait sessions with figures such as Muhammad Ali, Jack Nicklaus, Willie Shoemaker and Pelé proved unexpectedly revelatory for the artist, who—until then only tangentially aware of their achievements—found himself enthralled by the scale of their influence and the mythology surrounding them. Confronted with the charisma and cultural reach of these modern gladiators, Warhol swiftly recognized the athletes’ potential to occupy the same pantheon as his beloved film icons, famously declaring, “Athletes are the new movie stars.”

Cassius Clay poses for the camera on May 17, 1962, in Bronx, New York. Photo by Stanley Weston/Getty Images.

As was his custom, Warhol began not with grand, serialized canvases but with intimate Polaroid studies, capturing each subject in a moment of distilled presence. In the case of Muhammad Ali, Warhol traveled with Weisman, Fred Hughes, and biographer Victor Bockris to Fighter’s Heaven—Ali’s storied training camp in rural Pennsylvania—where the boxer prepared for upcoming bouts. There, amid the austere simplicity of the gym, Warhol photographed Ali in his signature stance: fists raised, body coiled, alert. Yet rather than dwell solely on the athlete’s famed physicality, Warhol was arrested by the serene focus underlying Ali’s power—his contemplative stillness, his inward discipline.

Andy Warhol and Muhammad Ali at Ali’s training camp “Fighter’s Heaven,” Deer Lake, Pennsylvania, August 1977.
Photographed by Victor Bockris.

The following year, still moved by his encounter, Warhol produced this four-part suite of screenprints. Concentrating on Ali’s head and hands, Warhol isolates the dual engines of the fighter’s legend: the intellect and the body, the strategic mind and the kinetic strike. The palette—vivid, electric, and exceptionally fresh in the present example—recalls the chromatic bravura of Warhol’s 1960s icons, from Marilyn Monroe to Elizabeth Taylor, thereby elevating Ali to the realm of the quintessential Warholian celebrity.

Warhol’s fixation on fame—its construction, its fragility, its dazzling surface—forms the conceptual spine of his oeuvre. From the tragic glamor of Marilyn to the luxe hauteur of his society portraits commissioned by the international elite, Warhol chronicled the faces that shaped contemporary culture, whether forged in Hollywood or in high society’s salons. His portraits operate as both celebration and critique: radiant façades that simultaneously reveal and obscure the inner life of their subjects. In portraying athletes with the same formal vocabulary he reserved for screen sirens and socialites, Warhol affirmed the democratization of celebrity in late-20th-century America and underscored his abiding belief that stardom—wherever found—was the defining currency of the age.

Andy Warhol photographed Muhammad Ali for the first time as part of his 1977 Athletes series. This group of works featured other sports stars of the era, such as the golfer Jack Nicklaus, Brazilian soccer hero Pele and basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and was initiated by the West Coast art collector and sports fanatic Richard Weisman. At the time of their first encounter, Muhammad Ali was — for the third time — the World Boxing Association Heavyweight Champion, and Andy Warhol was approaching the peak of his celebrity. They could not have been more different.

ANDY WARHOL
Muhammad Ali, 1977
unique Polacolor Type 108 print

The stars of sport were a natural progression for Warhol and his preoccupation with fame and celebrity status. ‘I said that the athletes were better than movie stars and I don’t know what I’m talking about because athletes are the new movie stars,’ he once said. Warhol travelled to Ali’s training camp in Pennsylvania to photograph and interview the boxer with Weisman, his business manager Fred Hughes, and the author Victor Bockris. Warhol’s images capture the essence of Ali, with his raw power and focus highlighted in the composition’s clenched fists and fixed stare. One of the most venerated sportsmen of all time, nicknamed ‘The Greatest’, Ali became a global sensation for his distinctive style in the boxing ring. Alongside his athletic prowess, he was a charismatic public figure: an anti-war advocate and vocal champion of civil rights. By the 1970s, Warhol himself had achieved similar levels of fame, hailed for his depictions of commodities and celebrities that held a mirror up to contemporary society. With the rise of television broadcasting, the artist surmised that the sports figures of today were the movie icons of yesterday, and that Ali was the world’s biggest star.

Christie’s New-York: 10 November 2021
USD 18,107,500

ANDY WARHOL
Muhammad Ali, 1977
Acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas
40×40 inches (101.6 x 101.6 cm)

Years before Jean-Michel Basquiat would include Ali in his line-up of black heroes – a hall of fame that featured Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Sugar Ray Robinson – Warhol had elevated the boxer to the realm of art. On one hand, his depictions spoke with the same bold, bare-faced confidence as his unabashed reproductions of household brands: Coca-Cola bottles, Brillo Boxes and Campbell’s Soup cans, whose brazen forms showed no remorse at their blatant reproduction. Ali himself spoke with a similar fighting rhetoric: ‘I’m the greatest! I’m a bad man! And I’m pretty!’, he famously claimed. At the same time, however, Warhol succeeded in capturing the human side of his subjects: a treatment to which he famously subjected his own image in his haunting self-portraits. This aspect of his practice was borne out by Ali’s response to the painting, after being presented with a version of it as a gift from Weisman.

Ali, 1978

Muhammad Ali

The complete set of four screenprints in colors
Medium: Screenprint in colors on Strathmore Bristol paper
Year: 1978
Sheet: 40×30 inches (101.6 x 76.2 cm)
Edition: 150
Artist’s Proofs: 10 AP
Publisher: Andy Warhol Enterprises, Inc., New York
Printer: Rupert Jasen Smith, New-York
Literature: Feldman & Schellmann II.179-182

Each signed in ink by the artist and subject, and numbered with the copyright inkstamp of Andy Warhol Enterprises, Inc. on the reverse

1. Muhammad Ali (F&S II.179)

2. Muhammad Ali (F&S II.180)

3. Muhammad Ali (F&S II.181)

4. Muhammad Ali (F&S II.182)

2025 Auction Results

Muhammad Ali (F&S II.182), 1978

Christie’s New-York: 23 October 2025
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 165,100

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Muhammad Ali: one print, 1978
(Feldman & Schellmann II.182)
Screenprint in colors on Strathmore Bristol paper
Signed in felt-tip pen, numbered 137⁄150
(there were also ten artist’s proofs)

Muhammad Ali (F&S II.179-182), 1978

Phillips London: 18 September 2025
Estimated: GBP 120,000 – 180,000
GBP 154,800 / USD 210,530
COMPLETE SET

ANDY WARHOL

Muhammad Ali (F. & S. 179-182), 1978

The complete set of four screenprints in colors on Strathmore Bristol paper

All signed and numbered 41/150 in black felt-tip pen (there were also 10 artist’s proofs)

Muhammad Ali (F&S II.181), 1978

New Auction: 28 June 2025
Estimated: JPY 2,800,000 – 3,800,000
JPY 3,450,000 / USD 23,855

ANDY WARHOL
Muhammad Ali (F. & S. II.181), 1978
Screenprint
Signed and numbered
From the edition of 150

Muhammad Ali (F&S II.181), 1978

Christie’s New-York: 16 April 2025
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 25,200

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Muhammad Ali: one print (Feldman & Schellmann II.181), 1978
Screenprint in colors on Strathmore Bristol paper
Signed in ink, numbered 121⁄150
(there were also ten artist’s proofs)

Muhammad Ali (F&S II.181), 1978

Christie’s online: 27 March 2025
Estimated: GBP 18,000 – 25,000
GBP 27,720 / USD 35,759

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Muhammad Ali: one plate (Feldman & Schellmann II.181), 1978
Screenprint in colors on Strathmore Bristol paper
Signed in black ink, numbered 148/150 (there were also ten artist’s proofs)

Muhammad Ali (F&S II.181), 1978

LA Modern: 8 January 2025
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 25,400

ANDY WARHOL (1928–1987)
Plate from the Muhammad Ali portfolio (Feldman/Schellmann II.181), 1978
Screenprint in colors on Strathmore Bristol
Signed and numbered to lower edge ‘126/150 Andy Warhol’

2024 Auction Results

#1. Muhammad Ali (F&S II.179-182), 1978

Sotheby’s online: 20 March 2024
Estimated: GBP 150,000 – 200,000
GBP 279,400 / USD 354,838
COMPLETE SET

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Muhammad Ali, 1978
The complete set of four screenprints in colors on Strathmore Bristol paper
Each signed in felt-tip pen and numbered 74/150

#2. Muhammad Ali (F&S II.179-182), 1978

Heritage Auctions: 10 December 2024
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 250,000
USD 237,500
COMPLETE SET

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Muhammad Ali (complete portfolio, four works) (Feldman & Schellmann, II.179-II.182), 1978
Screenprints in colors on Stathmore Bristol paper
A.P. 1/10 (aside from an edition of 150 and 1 printer’s proof)
Each signed and editioned in ink, along lower edge

2023 Auction Results

#1. Muhammad Ali (F&S II.179-182), 1978

Christie’s online: 16 March 2023
Estimated: GBP 200,000 – 300,000
GBP 239,400 / USD 289,900
COMPLETE SET

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Muhammad Ali, 1978
The complete set of four screen-prints in colors on Strathmore Bristol paper
Each signed in ink, numbered 35/150 (there were also ten artist’s proofs)

#2. Muhammad Ali (F&S II.179-182), 1978

Heritage Auctions: 24 October 2023
Estimated: USD 250,000 – 350,000
USD 275,000
COMPLETE SET

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Muhammad Ali, 1978
Portfolio of four screen-prints in colors on Strathmore Bristol paper
Each signed in ink, inscribed AP 2/10 along lower edge

#3. Muhammad Ali (F&S II.179), 1978

Phillips New-York: 24 October 2023
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 90,000
USD 165,100

ANDY WARHOL
Muhammad Ali (F. & S. 179), 1978
Screenprint in colors on Strathmore Bristol paper
Signed and numbered 44/150 in black marker
Inscribed by Ali ‘
From Muhammad Ali Love is the net, Where Hearts are caught like Fish Sept-8-83’
in black ink in the image

2022 Auction Results

#1. Muhammad Ali (F&S II.179-182), 1978

Christie’s London: 28 September 2022
Estimated: GBP 250,000 – 350,000
GBP 352,800 / USD 378,430
COMPLETE SET

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Muhammad Ali, 1978
The complete set of four screen-prints in colors
Each signed in ink, inscribed A.P. 9/10
An artist’s proofs set aside from the edition of 150

#2. Muhammad Ali (F&S II.179-182), 1978

Sotheby’s Milan: 23 November 2022
Estimated: EUR 220,000 – 280,000
EUR 277,200 / USD 285,820
COMPLETE SET

ANDY WARHOL
Muhammad Ali (F. & S. II. 179-182), 1978
The complete set of four screen-prints in colors
Each signed in felt-tip pen and numbered 145/150

#3. Muhammad Ali (F&S II.179-182), 1978

Sotheby’s New-York: 27 October 2022
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 252,000
COMPLETE SET

ANDY WARHOL
Muhammad Ali, 1978
The complete set of four screen-prints in colors
Each signed in felt-tip pen and numbered 85/150
Also signed in felt-tip pen by Muhammad Ali

#4. Muhammad Ali (F&S II.179), 1978

Phillips New-York: 26 October 2022
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 88,200

ANDY WARHOL
Muhammad Ali (F. & S. 179), 1978
Screen-print in colors on Strathmore Bristol paper
Signed and numbered 80/150 in black marker

#5. Muhammad Ali (F&S II.180), 1978

Christie’s New-York: 27 October 2022
Estimated: USD 25,000 – 35,000
USD 40,320

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Muhammad Ali: one print, 1978
Screen-print in colors on Strathmore Bristol paper
Signed in ink (reinforced with graphite)
Numbered 12/150 (there were also ten artist’s proofs)
With the ‘Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board’ ink stamp and annotated ‘A144.0410’ in pencil

#6.Muhammad Ali (F&S II.181), 1978

Sotheby’s London: 16 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 10,000 – 15,000
GBP 20,160 / USD 26,389

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Muhammad Ali (F. & S. II.181), 1978
Screenprint in colors on Strathmore Bristol paper
Signed in pencil, inscribed ‘P.P. 1/2’
Presumably a printer’s proof aside from the numbered edition of 150
(F. & S. calls for one printer’s proof)

#7. Muhammad Ali (F&S II.181), 1978

Christie’s New-York: 27 October 2022
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 25,200

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Muhammad Ali: one print, 1978
Screen-print in colors, on Strathmore Bristol paper
Signed in ink, numbered 34/150 (there were also ten artist’s proofs)

Ali (F&S II.179)

Phillips New-York: 24 October 2023
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 90,000
USD 165,100

Phillips New-York: 26 October 2022
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 88,200

ANDY WARHOL
Muhammad Ali (F. & S. 179), 1978
Screen-print in colors on Strathmore Bristol paper
Signed and numbered 80/150 in black marker

Ali (F&S II.180)

Christie’s New-York: 27 October 2022
Estimated: USD 25,000 – 35,000
USD 40,320

Phillips New-York: 19 October 2021
Estimated: USD 25,000 – 35,000
USD 47,880

ANDY WARHOL
Muhammad Ali (F. & S. 180), 1978
Screenprint in colors on Strathmore Bristol paper
Signed and numbered 93/150 in black felt-tip pen

Ali (F&S II.181)