Product：Andy Warhol's ＂The White Disaster (Nineteen White Car Accidents)＂

NO：1114

Starting Price：USD 66,000,000

Transaction Price：USD 85,350,500

Specification：367.7 x 210.5 cm

Auction Time：23-Jul-Tue

Auction Company：New York Sotheby\'s

In this painting 'White Disaster', nineteen silk printed prints of real-life car accidents appear on the canvas in the form of a series of movies. It adopts the black and white tones of newspapers, which are the inspiration for Warhol. As of 1963, 44% of the population in the United States owned cars - a symbol of freedom and progress for many, but at the same time, it also led to increasing media coverage of car accidents. On the contrary, in this work, Warhol transforms these tragic yet daily events into even more noble works, with full strength to condense the mysteries of life and death, mourning the tragedies that come with life and death.
 

In terms of painting scale and creative ambition, Warhol's "Death and Disaster" series is today on par with the great historical paintings - comparable to Francisco Goya's "The Shooting of May 3, 1808" (1808) and Theodore Jericho's "The Raft of Medusa" (1819), Guernica (1937) by Pablo Picasso - they each truthfully recorded the Great Tribulation of their times with outstanding painting skills. However, when Warhol's predecessor loudly awakened the little-known human suffering behind war massacres and shipwrecks, Warhol allowed this devastating disaster to befall the insignificant suburban car accidents, which were completely part of the suffering of the post-war era.
 

In addition to constantly repeating images, the composition of the painting also leads the audience's gaze upwards. As a child, Warhol would stare at the Icon of Jesus and saints for hours in the Byzantine Rite Catholic Church in Pittsburgh, where he grew up. As he grew up, he continued to study the works of Renaissance masters throughout his life. In "The White Disaster", which pays homage to art masters and embodies personal beliefs, Warhol created his own 20th century "Ascension of Christ".