Alexander Iolas Gallery, New York
Lazaros Poulitis, Athens
Private Collection  (acquired from the above)
Christie's, London, December 9, 1998, Lot 777
Private Collection
Christie's, London, October 17, 2006, Lot 378
Acquired by the present owner from the above

This work is in excellent condition. Please contact the Contemporary Art Department at 212-606-7254 for a condition report prepared by Terrence Mahon. The canvas is framed in a silver gilt beveled wood frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Andy Warhol's Dollar Sign is one of the most potent symbols of our time and, as a master at identifying and appropriating the zeitgeist of America in the 20^th century, Andy Warhol revisited this symbol many times throughout his career. Executed nearly two decades after the first of Warhol's money paintings, the monumental single Dollar Signs of 1981 provide the ultimate expression of his lifelong fascination with consumerism.  Like his first Pop paintings which examined the relationship between big business and the common man through enlarged icons of consumerism like Coca Cola and Campbell's soup, Warhol here similarly takes the currency of this relationship and brusquely presents it with all the brazen euphoria synonymous with that decade.  No longer appropriating the entire bill as his subject, Warhol instead focuses in upon the unabashed icon of money; the monumental, isolated '$' as one of the most recognized logos anywhere in the world and the symbol of the American Dream. In this series, Warhol hones in on arguably the biggest brand of all. By the 1980s, Warhol's silkscreen process had become refined to such a degree that it is capable of registering with great nuance and precision the delicacy of Warhol's shading technique. Thus, gleaming with the sparkling promise of prosperity, Dollar Sign dramatically prefigures the at🌳mosphere of exuberance and extravagance that characterized the art world of the 1980🏅s.

Dollar Sign reflects the complete synthesis of art and money within his oeuvre, as well as its creator's own apotheosis from artist to international superstar. This, Warhol's last series of money paintings, metaphorically reveals that by 1981, Pop art was a historical triumph and an entrenched cultural phenomenon. First exhibited at Leo Castelli's Greene Street gallery in 1982, the monumental Dollar Signs afforﷺded insight into his enduring fascination with commodity culture.  Pulsating through richly saturated layers of pure color, multiple impressions of the '$' motif throb against the saturated background. Filling the expanse of the vast canvas, this larger-than-life symbol of wealth is rendered with the immaculate clarity of Warhol's perfected silkscreen technique. Set against a vibrant purple background, the dollar sign in the present work is comprised of multiple screens of color, all skillfully executed, allowing each color to add vitality to the surface of the painting. Filling the entire height of the canvas, this dollar sign is given totemic status, towering above the beholder.

As Christophe Van de Weghe fittingly notes in his introduction to the catalogue for the 2004 exhibition at his gallery, "the 80s witnessed a marriage of art and money completely Warholian.  As both a participant in and an observer of this phenomenon, Warhol aptly noted that 'big time art is big time money.' That Warhol so presciently seized on the symbol for money at that point in time is but one more signal of Warhol's keen sense for what makes America tick." (Exh. Cat., New York, Christophe Van de Weghe, Andy Warhol: Dollar Signs, September – November 2004, n.p.).  Like his Marilyn and Elvis paintings, Warhol's dollar paintings are all about desire. Within a society immersed in the pursuit of wealth, Warhol's art had become an acquisition that conferred status on its collector. As Warhol commented, "I like money on the wall. Say you were going to buy a $200,000 painting. I think you should take that money, tie it up, and hang it on the wall. Then when someone visited you, the first thing they would see is the money on the wall." (Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: from A to Z and Back Again, New York, 1975, pp. 133-134). It both intrigued and amused Wa🐼rhol that his art possesses powers similar to money, as it is capable of stimulating desire and imagination simultaneously.