Andy Warhol's Shot Sage Blue Marilyn of Marilyn Monroe set a new record Monday night for the most expensive piece of 20th-century art ever sold at auction, according to the Los Angeles Times..

The 1964 work, 40 square inches in acrylic and silkscreen, sold at Christie's in New York for $195 million, the auction house says.. The buyer was art dealer Larry Gagosian.

Until Monday, the record for a 20th-century painting at auction was $179.4 million for Pablo Picasso's "

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Warhol's painting is part of a series of five works, four of which are titled " Prior to the sale, it was sold for "

This means that the painting also set a record as the most expensive pre-sale purchase for a work of art of any period, to date.. The price exceeds the value of the painting " (It ended up costing $450 million.

Shot Sage Blue Marilyn is one of Warhol's most iconic images, a signature work in his work and a cornerstone of pop art..

“When we think of the most iconic images in art history,” Flaum said, “we think of paintings like da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus and Picasso’s Avignon Girls.”. Andy Warhol's portrait of the movie star is a perfect addition to this list, she hinted..

Warhol never met Monroe in person, but painted her likeness dozens of times after she died of an overdose in 1962.. In 1964, he painted five of Monroe's works - "

We recently reported that a forgery of a Kandinsky painting was put up for auction to support the Russian army..