The 1948 self-portrait "Nosepicker 1: Why Pick on Me" - in which Warhol puts his finger in his nose - went for $491,400 including fees, while "Living Room", which depicts his living room in Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania ), sold for $315,000 at a sale organized in New York by Phillips.

Prices far removed from the artist's most expensive works, such as "Shot Sage Blue Marilyn", a mythical portrait of Marilyn Monroe auctioned in May for 195 million dollars at Christie's, in New York, the highest price of auction history for a 20th century painting.

"These are early works, and he is best known for his serigraphs," agreed James Warhola, a 67-year-old American artist and illustrator, son of Andy Warhol's older brother (1928-1987), who featured the works. sale.

Student Warhol

"But they are very rare. And these are the first in our collection, which has ten. We will continue to sell them, in the spring (2023) we will sell more," he told AFP shortly. after the sale, saying he was satisfied to make collectors "happy".

These works date back to a time when Warhol was still a student in Pittsburgh, before leaving to try his luck in New York, first as an advertising artist.

James Warhola, nephew of American artist Andy Warhol, in New York on November 10, 2022 TIMOTHY A. CLARY AFP

He broke through in the 1950s and then rose to fame in the 1960s, thanks to unique works exploring the consumer society, advertising and the notion of celebrity.

The platinum-and-silver-wigged artist, now iconic to New York City, died in 1987.

According to James Warhola, who kept the "a" in the name of his emigrated family from Eastern Europe, the works sold on Tuesday may interest collectors "who have a lot of Warhol and want to complete their collection".

“They stayed in the family for 70 years,” but “none of us” among the seven siblings “could afford to buy them back, so we put them up for auction,” he explains.

Both paintings had almost been lost.

At the end of the 1970s, the Warhola family had their car stolen, with the two paintings stored in the vehicle.

The car was eventually found with the paintings intact, Phillips auction house said in its presentation.

© 2022 AFP