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Andy Warhol’s White Disaster Car Crash Artwork Sells for a “Monumental” $85.4 Million

Andy Warhol is the most popular artist of the 20th century, and his ever-lasting appeal and the relevant social commentary of his artworks are both reflected in the kind of amounts that change hands whenever one of his works emerges on the market. This time, we’re talking about White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times).
Andy Warhol's White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times) sold at auction for $85.4 million 6 photos
Photo: Sotheby's
1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing
No one probably imagined photos of car accidents would be so highly coveted and highly valued, but in Andy Warhol’s hands, they become social commentaries on pop culture and an inescapable reality of mass-media manipulation. His famous Death and Disaster series focused on said reality, one that Warhol believed led to immunization against personal and collective tragedies, as well as on themes like death, mortality, and the never-ending search for the human soul.

On Wednesday, his largest piece in the series, White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times), sold at a Sotheby’s auction for the “monumental” price of $85.4 million. It is the largest artwork in the series and has been kept in private collections for the past 25 years, only emerging rarely for public displays at prestigious art galleries around the world.

As Sotheby’s notes, it is monumental in scope and heartbreaking in the unflinching portrayal of tragedy by means of 19 images of the same car crash set against a pure, all-white backdrop.

Morbid as it is, White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times) is not Warhol reveling in gore. The photograph used was one taken from a news story in Newsweek, the June 3, 1963 edition, on a fatal car crash. Warhol believed that the mass media’s focus on death and accidents desensitized the public, and the Death and Disaster series came to be as a commentary on this observation.

While incredibly expensive, White Disaster (White Car Crash 19 Times) is not Warhol's highest-valued piece or, for that matter, the highest-valued car crash-based artwork. The all-time record for a Warhol piece was set last year by one of his Marilyn Monroe silkscreens, which sold for $195 million. As for car crashes turned art, in 2013, Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) changed hands at auction for $105.4 million and, for years, would hold the title of the most expensive Warhol artwork.

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Editor's note: Photos in the gallery show the so-called "Warhol 300 SL,” the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing that inspired Warhol.

About the author: Elena Gorgan
Elena Gorgan profile photo

Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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