An iconic American flag painting by Jasper Johns sold for $36 million in New York on Veterans Day, setting an auction record for the artist.
The painting was acquired directly from the artist in 1983 and had remained in the same private collection since then.
It was on loan to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and exhibited at the Rhode Island School of Design and Yale University Art Gallery.
“Flag” was estimated to fetch between $15 million to $20 million at the Sotheby’s sale.
The $36 million purchase price surpassed that of the previous titleholder for a Johns painting, a flag from 1960-66 that Christie’s sold for $28.6 million four years ago.
Also sold Tuesday was Mark Rothko’s “No. 21 (Red, Brown, Black and Orange),” which was purchased by art benefactors Pierre and Sao Schlumberger directly from Rothko’s estate.
An Andy Warhol portrait of Elizabeth Taylor also garnered top bids. Painted in 1963, “Liz #3 (Early Colored Liz)” fetched $31.5 million. It’s one in a Warhol series on the actress.