Warhol’s Double Elvis to fetch double price at auction?

Warhol fans, prepare your wallets. The Pop art king’s 1963 “Double Elvis” painting is up for auction for the first time in almost twenty years. Sotheby’s expects it to fetch between $30 million and $50 million.

The monochrome picture features two figures of Elvis dressed as a cowboy – one clear and one blurry, more like a shadow. The twinned Presleys are pointing revolvers at the viewer, ready to shoot from the hip.

Elvis was a live incarnation of fame for the great 20th century artist. Warhol produced a total of 22 Presley images when the singer was at the height of his popularity. Nine works in the series reside in museum collections, including MoMA in New York.

The artwork will be displayed in Los Angeles, London and Hong Kong before going under the hammer at Sotheby’s contemporary-art sale in New York in May. Alongside the Warhol painting the auction will sell a version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream and Roy Lichtenstein’s Sleeping Girl.

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