Christie’s planned sale of two works by Andy Warhol in New York this month has met with opposition from museums in North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as from Monika Grütters, Germany’s culture minister. The works—Triple Elvis [Ferus Type], 1963, and Four Marlons, 1966 (combined estimate $130m)—are being sold by the Casino group Westdeutsche Spielbanken, to raise funds for restructuring. But, as the group is owned by NRW Bank, a public institution, 26 museum directors wrote a letter to the state’s government to stop their sale, which, Grütters says could “open the floodgates”. However, a spokesman for Westdeutsche Spielbanken says that it is an independent company, with its own legal status, and which bought the works out of its own funds in the 1970s. The laws on gambling are very strict in Germany, where companies have to put up to 80% of their profits back into the community. As we went to press, the works were still due to be sold.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'Anger at Warhol sale'