Andy Warhol’s Big Electric Chair (1967–68) will headline Christie’s 20th-century evening sale during the spring marquee week in New York on May 12th. The painting, depicting an electric chair at Sing Sing Penitentiary, comes from the revered Matthys-Colle Collection. The low estimate will be in the ballpark of $30 million, according to the auction house.
First shown at Warhol’s major European retrospective at Stockholm’s Moderna Museet in 1968, Big Electric Chair was acquired by Belgian collectors Roger Matthys and Hilda Colle in 1969.
“Big Electric Chair is the ultimate still life,” said Alex Rotter, chairman of 20th- and 21st-century art at Christie’s. “It is singular within Warhol’s oeuvre—a solitary object in a quiet moment, reflecting the fragility of the human condition. The work is a tribute to the great still lifes that come before it, from Dutch Masters to [Paul] Cézanne.”
Warhol’s “Death and Disaster” series is traced back to Lavender Disaster (1963), created shortly after Sing Sing State Penitentiary executed Eddie Lee Mays—the last person to be executed in New York. Big Electric Chair stands out within that series, focusing solely on the electric chair without additional contextual elements often seen in other versions, such as doors or signage. Its isolated depiction invites viewers to ponder the stark realities of life and death, reminiscent of memento mori themes from the Renaissance era.
Big Electric Chair differs from the full series of 14 electric chair works because it is the only example where Warhol screened the image with black silkscreen against a monochrome background. In 2014, another piece from the same series, depicting the chair in shades of blue, green, and pink, was sold for $20.43 million at Sotheby’s New York.
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