Warhol Elvis art to sell for $50m NEWS
Andy Warhol's Double Elvis could be sold for up to $50m when auctioned in New York in May.
Sotheby's in New York said the Warhol piece 'epitomises the artist's obsessions with fame, stardom and the public image'.
Double Elvis was first displayed at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles in 1963. In the painting, Presley is sporting a cowboy outfit, aiming a pistol while the double of the title is in reference to a shadowy image of the singer to the side of him.
The life-size painting is one of the 22 pieces Warhol dedicated to Elvis. It will be shown in London, LA and Hong Kong prior to the auction.
In 2008, Warhol's Eight Elvises was sold for $100m in a private sale.
The highest amount paid at auction for a Warhol original was Green Car Crash in 2007, which was auctioned for $71.7m.
Of the 22 works in the Elvis series, nine are in museum collections.
The series marked a turning point in Warhol's career where he made a transition from a viewer of movies to a maker of them, according to Sotheby's.