Beautifully stylized and archetypal in their simplicity, Andy Warhol presents the nostalgia and timelessness of the stiletto in his larger-than-life composition. Arranged in a seemingly random but clearly staged way, each of Warhol’s shoes possesses a distinct character in its color and positioning, but are, in fact, identical in their epitomizing of a classic sense of elegance, glamour and style.

Table of Contents
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Introduction
Shoes, 1980
Shoes (Deluxe Edition), 1980
2026 Auction Results
2025 Auction Results
2024 Auction Results
2023 Auction Results
2022 Auction Results
2021 Auction Results
Shoes (F&S II.253)
Shoes (F&S II.254)
Shoes (F&S II.255)
Shoes (F&S II.256)
Shoes (F&S II.257)
Shoes (Deluxe Edition)
Complete Sets

Introduction

The series features pump profiles silhouetted on black backgrounds with diamond dust. Two of the five images in the series limit the color to black on black, and white on black, highlighting the shoes shapes in both stark and subtle contrast. The diamond dust, ordered from an industrial supply company in New Jersey, was ‘faux’ made of pulverized glass that glistened just to Warhol’s specifications. The marriage of the two, diamond dust and Warhol’s foremost subject—shoes—combined his modest beginnings with the glamour of Studio 54 stilettos.

“I’m doing shoes because I’m going back to my roots. In fact, I think maybe I should do nothing but shoes from now on.”

Warhol’s desk, Halston shoes, Leonardo da Vinci bust, 1981 (Photo by Robert Levin)

Effortlessly chic and dazzling, Shoes is a quintessentially Warholian joy ride into his unmistakable Pop palette. Composed in 1980 as part of the series of the same name, the work at once creatively revisits Andy Warhol’s oldest artistic motifs of the high heel and stiletto, and incarnates the legendary New York discotheque culture – propelled by the prosperity of Reagan’s government – of the early 1980s. Evoking glitzy nights of dancing in the Studio 54 club sound tracked by the sumptuous analogue synthesizers of Italo-Disco songs, Shoes epitomizes Warhol’s reliquary fetishization of the glamour and gloss exhibited at the high end of American pop culture. Exuding un-tempered indulgence in glam, drag, hyperbole and performance, this diamond-emblazoned image conjures nights of unparalleled luxury and euphoria; nights that cemented Warhol’s reputation as insatiable night owl and documenter of debauchery. And yet Warhol’s aesthetic contains the equivocal and delectable complexity of simultaneously making strange that which it celebrates. Deliberately isolated from its corresponding pair, each shoe comes apart from the feminine boudoir; leaving an otherworldly galaxy in which distant stars flicker and the shoes float, like unknown artefacts, into obscurity.

There is no symbol more enduringly important to Warhol’s oeuvre than the feminine shoe, and in a sense his career is founded on it. Arriving in New York in 1949, Warhol began to draw shoes commercially in 1950. So shrewd and imaginative were his illustrations that in 1955 he was illustrating marketing campaigns for the I Miller Shoe Company. Warhol received his first critical praise for this work, was presented with an award from the Art Director’s Club, and in 1956 had one of his shoe drawings displayed in an exhibition – Recent Drawings U.S.A – held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. A year later, Warhol launched his own exhibition of gold shoe drawings at the Bodley Gallery. Warhol’s early 1960s exploration into the appropriative practices of Pop art saw him paint and parody clippings from shoe advertisements and comic strips involving heavily gendered, stiletto-clad feminine archetypes.

Throughout his career, Warhol was obsessed with luxury, beauty and fame. Evident from these early commissions as well as resonating throughout his career, Warhol constantly surrounded himself with beautiful, interesting and celebrated features of music, art, and fashion. Long before 1980, Warhol’s own position as a celebrity in all three of these categories was solidified, and, as he claimed, the decision to paint the Diamond Dust Shoes was due in large part to wanting to get back to his roots, most likely because of a clear nostalgia for this past moment in his life. Still Diamond Dust Shoes also signifies this glamorous, celebrity for which he was constantly drawn.

Andy Warhol, Halston, Jack Jr. Haley [& Wife], Liza Minnelli and Bianca Jagger at Studio 54 by Robin Platzer © The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

Adding to its intrigue, none of the shoes exist in a pair; they are all individual. A pair of shoes reflects a direct relation to a utilitarian product; one wears shoes to protect their feet. When presented in this way as a group of individual objects, each shoe is isolated in its role as a symbol, an icon. With its synecdochic relationship to the body of a woman, the shoe, especially a stiletto, is a sex symbol and can even be extended to its representation of a foot fetish. Just as with many of his other object paintings, while the artist is interested in the form and shape of the object that he is painting, the object is always a larger representative of a bigger theme or sentiment. While the shoe differs from Warhol’s Coca-Cola bottles, or a Campbell’s Soup Can in its anonymity, the power here lies with the international signifier of female sexuality rather than with a commercial product.

Shoes, 1980

Shoes

Portfolio of five screenprints with diamond dust
Medium: Screenprint with diamond dust, on Arches Aquarelle (Cold Pressed) paper
Year: 1980
Sheet: 40 1/2 x 59 1/2 inches (102.2 x 151.1 cm)
Edition: 60
Artist’s Proofs: 10 AP
Printer’s Proofs: 2 PP
Printer: Rupert Jasen Smith, New-York
Publisher: Andy Warhol, New-York
Literature: Feldman & Schellmann II.253-257

Signed and numbered in pencil on the reverse with the artist’s copyright inkstamp

1. Shoes (F&S II.253)

2. Shoes (F&S II.254)

3. Shoes (F&S II.255)

4. Shoes (F&S II.256)

5. Shoes (F&S II.257)

Shoes (Deluxe Edition), 1980

Shoes (Deluxe Edition)

Portfolio of five screenprints with diamond dust
Medium: Screenprint with diamond dust, on Arches Aquarelle (Cold Pressed) paper
Year: 1980
Sheet: 40 1/4 x 59 1/2 inches (102.2 x 151.1 cm)
Edition: 10
Artist’s Proofs: 10 AP
Printer’s Proofs: 1 PP
Printer: Rupert Jasen Smith, New-York
Publisher: Andy Warhol, New-York
Literature: Feldman & Schellmann II.248-252

Signed and numbered in pencil on the reverse, DE is marked after each number

1. Shoes (Deluxe Edition) (F&S II.248)

2. Shoes (Deluxe Edition) (F&S II.249)

3. Shoes (Deluxe Edition) (F&S II.250)

4. Shoes (Deluxe Edition) (F&S II.251)

5. Shoes (Deluxe Edition) (F&S II.252)

2026 Auction Results

Shoes (F&S II.248), 1980

Sotheby’s New-York: 25 February 2026
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 76,800

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Shoes: One Plate, 1980
(Feldman and Schellmann no. II.248)
Screenprint with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle paper
Signed and inscribed DE 6/10 (on the verso)
This impression is number 6 from the edition of 10 plus ten artist’s proofs
With the blindstamp of the printer, Rupert Jasen Smith
Published by the artist

2025 Auction Results

#1. Shoes (F&S II.257), 1980

Sotheby’s Milan: 28 May 2025
Estimated: EUR 70,000 – 80,000
EUR 107,950 / USD 122,390

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Diamond Dust Shoes (See Feldman/Schellmann II.257) , 1980
Screenprint in colours with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle paper
With the inkstamps of The Estate of Andy Warhol and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. verso
Initialed ‘T.J.H.’ in pencil, inscribed with the reference number ‘099E UT.004‘
One of several unpublished trial proofs in a color variant aside from the edition of 60

USD 100,000

#2. Shoes (F&S II.254), 1980

Sotheby’s New-York: 15 April 2025
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 76,200

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Shoes (Feldman & Schellmann II.254), 1980
Screenprint in colors with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle paper
Signed in pencil on the verso and numbered 32/60

#3. Shoes (Deluxe Edition) (F&S II.251), 1980

Sotheby’s New-York: 22 October 2025
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 76,200

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Shoes (Deluxe Edition) (Feldman & Schellmann II.251), 1980
Screenprint in colors with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle wove paper
signed in pencil on the verso and numbered DE 1/10
This impression is number 1 from the edition of 10 plus ten artist’s proofs
With the blindstamp of the printer, Rupert Jasen Smith
Published by the artist

#4. Shoes (F&S II.256), 1980

Christie’s New-York: 23 October 2025
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 60,960

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Shoes: one print, 1980
(Feldman & Schellmann II.256)
Screenprint with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle paper
Signed in pencil on the reverse, numbered 13⁄60
(there were also ten artist’s proofs)

#5. Shoes (F&S II.256), 1980

Phillips New-York: 16 April 2025
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 50,800

ANDY WARHOL
Diamond Dust Shoes (Black) (F. & S. 256), 1980
Screenprint in black with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle paper
Signed, and numbered 23/60 in pencil on the reverse

2024 Auction Results

#1. Shoes (F&S II.254), 1980

Sotheby’s online: 29 February 2024
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 95,250

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Shoes (Feldman & Schellmann II.254), 1980
Screenprint in colors with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle paper
Signed in pencil and numbered 32/60 (on the verso)
This impression is number 32 from the edition of 60 plus ten artist’s proofs
With the blindstamp of the printer, Rupert Jasen Smith, and with the artist’s inkstamp on the verso

#2. Shoes (F&S II.257), 1980

Phillips Hong-Kong: 14 June 2024
Estimated: HKD 500,000 – 700,000
HKD 533,400 / USD 68,297

ANDY WARHOL
Shoes (F. & S. 257), 1980
Screenprint in colors with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle paper
Signed and numbered 41/60 in pencil on the reverse (there were also 10 artist’s proofs)

#3. Shoes (Deluxe Edition) (F&S II.248), 1980

Palm Beach Modern Auctions: 17 February 2024
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 60,800

ANDY WARHOL
Shoes (Deluxe Edition) (F/S II.248), 1980
Silkscreen with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle paper
Edition 3/10

2023 Auction Results

#1. Shoes (F&S II.257), 1980

Rago: 12 October 2023
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 151,200

ANDY WARHOL (1928–1987)
Shoes, 1980
Screen-print in colors with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle
Signed and numbered to verso ‘Andy Warhol AP 3/10’
An artist’s proof 3 of 10 apart from the edition of 60

#2. Shoes (F&S II.253), 1980

Phillips London: 19 January 2023
Estimated: GBP 80,000 – 120,000
GBP 119,500 / USD 147,035

ANDY WARHOL
Shoes (F. & S. 253), 1980
Screen-print in colors with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle (Cold Pressed) paper
Signed and numbered 24/60 in pencil on the reverse (there were also 10 artist’s proofs)

#3. Shoes (F&S II.253), 1980

Sotheby’s London: 2 March 2023
Estimated: GBP 80,000 – 120,000
GBP 101,600 / USD 122,190

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Shoes, 1980
Acrylic and silkscreen ink on paper
Stamped by The Estate of Andy Warhol and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.
Numbered 099A UT.003 on the reverse

#4. Shoes (F&S II.253), 1980

Christie’s London: 27 September 2023
Estimated: GBP 70,000 – 100,000
GBP 88,200 / USD 107,012

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Shoes, 1981
Screen-print in colors with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle wove paper
Signed in pencil on the reverse, numbered 12/60

USD 100,000

#5. Shoes (F&S II.257), 1980

Rago: 8 November 2023
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 88,200

ANDY WARHOL (1928–1987)
Shoes (Feldman/Schellmann II.257), 1980
Screenprint in colors with diamond dust
Stamped to verso ‘Andy Warhol 1980’
Signed, dated, numbered and inscribed to verso ‘HC Andy Warhol 81 to Bob love’
This work is an hors commerce apart from the edition of 60

#6. Shoes (F&S II.256), 1980

Artcurial Paris: 16 May 2023
Estimated: EUR 50,000 – 70,000
EUR 73,472 / USD 79,890

ANDY WARHOL
Diamond Dust Shoes (black), 1980
Screenprint in black with diamond dust on Arches
Signed and justified PP 1/2 on the reverse

#7. Shoes (F&S II.254), 1980

Seoul Auction: 28 November 2023
Estimated: KRW 60,000,000 – 150,000,000
KRW 102,660,000 / USD 79,048

ANDY WARHOL
Shoes (F&S 254), 1980
Screenprint with diamond dust
Signed and numbered on verso

#8. Shoes (F&S II.256), 1980

Christie’s London: 16 March 2023
Estimated: GBP 40,000 – 60,000
GBP 63,000 / USD 76,025

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Shoes (Feldman & Schellmann 256), 1980
Screen-print with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle paper
Signed and numbered 49/60 in pencil on the reverse

#9. Shoes (Deluxe Edition) (F&S II.250), 1980

Ketterer Munich: 8 December 2023
Estimated: EUR 50,000 – 52,500
EUR 63,500 / USD 66,675

ANDY WARHOL
Shoes (Deluxe Edition) (F/S II.250), 1980
Silkscreen with diamond dust on firm Arches watercolor paper
Signed and numbered ‘1/1’ and inscribed ‘PP’ as well as ‘DE’
Only printers proof copy aside from the edition of 10

2022 Auction Results

#1. Shoes (F&S II.256), 1980

Sotheby’s New-York: 19 July 2022
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 94,500

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Shoes (Feldman & Schellmann II.256), 1980
Screen-print with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle Cold Pressed paper
Signed in pencil Andy Warhol and numbered 28/60 (on the verso)

#2. Shoes (F&S II.257), 1980

Sotheby’s London: 14 September 2022
Estimated: GBP 40,000 – 60,000
GBP 75,600 / USD 86,970

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Shoes (cf. F. & S. 252, 257), 1980
Screen-print with diamond dust
Signed in pencil verso, inscribed and numbered ‘AP 6/10’
An artist’s proof aside from the deluxe edition of 10 and the regular edition of 60 (printed in colors)

2021 Auction Results

#1. Shoes (F&S II.255), 1980

Roseberys London: 2 November 2021
Estimated: GBP 80,000 – 100,000
GBP 84,500 / USD 115,065

ANDY WARHOL
Shoes (Black and White) (F&S II.255), 1980
Screenprint with diamond dust on Arches wove
Signed and numbered from the edition of 60 in pencil verso

#2. Shoes (F&S II.256), 1980

Christie’s London: 1 April 2021
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 81,250 / USD 112,400
AUCTION RECORD FOR SHOES (F&S 256)

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Shoes, 1980
Screenprint with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle paper
Signed and numbered 13/60 in pencil on the reverse

#3. Shoes (F&S II.256), 1980

New Auction Tokyo: 6 November 2021
Estimated: JPY 6,000,000 – 9,000,000
JPY 11,500,000 / USD 101,395

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Shoes (F&S II.256), 1980
Screenprint with diamond dust
Signed and numbered on verso
From the edition of 60

USD 100,000

#4. Shoes (F&S II.255), 1980

Sotheby’s New-York: 22 April 2021
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 81,900

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Shoes (Feldman & Schellmann II.255), 1980
Screenprint with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle paper,
Signed in pencil on the verso and inscribed ‘AP 2/10’
An artist’s proof aside from the numbered edition of 60

Shoes (F&S II.253)

Christie’s London: 27 September 2023
Estimated: GBP 70,000 – 100,000
GBP 88,200 / USD 107,012

ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
Shoes, 1981
Screen-print in colors with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle wove paper
Signed in pencil on the reverse, numbered 12/60

Sotheby’s London: 2 March 2023
Estimated: GBP 80,000 – 120,000
GBP 101,600 / USD 122,190

Phillips London: 19 January 2023
Estimated: GBP 80,000 – 120,000
GBP 119,500 / USD 147,035

Sotheby’s London: 17 September 2020
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 113,400 / USD 147,140

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
SHOES (F. & S. II.253), 1980
Screenprint in colors with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle paper
Signed in pencil, inscribed ‘AP 7/10’ verso
An artist’s proof aside from the edition of 60

Shoes (F&S II.254)

Sotheby’s New-York: 15 April 2025
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 76,200

ANDY WARHOL (1928 – 1987)
Shoes (Feldman & Schellmann II.254), 1980
Screenprint in colors with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle paper
Signed in pencil on the verso and numbered 32/60

Sotheby’s online: 29 February 2024
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 95,250

Seoul Auction: 28 November 2023
Estimated: KRW 60,000,000 – 150,000,000
KRW 102,660,000 / USD 79,048

ANDY WARHOL
Shoes (F&S 254), 1980
Screenprint with diamond dust
Signed and numbered on verso

Phillips London: 23 January 2020
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 87,500 / USD 114,850

ANDY WARHOL
Shoes, 1980
Screenprint in colors with diamond dust, on Arches Aquarelle Cold Pressed paper
Signed, inscribed and numbered ‘H.C. 1/1’ in pencil on the reverse
An hors commerce impression, the edition was 60 and 10 artist’s proofs

Shoes (F&S II.255)

Roseberys London: 2 November 2021
Estimated: GBP 80,000 – 100,000
GBP 84,500 / USD 115,065

ANDY WARHOL
Shoes (Black and White) (F&S II.255), 1980
Screenprint with diamond dust on Arches wove
Signed and numbered from the edition of 60 in pencil verso

Sotheby’s New-York: 22 April 2021
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 81,900

Phillips New-York: 22 October 2020
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 88,200

ANDY WARHOL
Diamond Dust Shoes (Black and White), 1980
Screenprint in black with diamond dust on Arches Aquarelle paper
Signed and numbered 35/60 in pencil on the reverse

Shoes (F&S II.256)