Andy Warhol

stamped twice with the Estate of Andy Warhol stamp and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Inc. stamp (on the overlap); numbered twice (on the stretcher bar)

229 by 178 cm. 90 by 70 in.

Estate of Andy Warhol, New York

Private Collection, New York

Private Collection, California

Christie's, London, 8 February 2007, Lot 52

Private Collection, Europe

Christie's, New York, 17 May 2017, Lot 56B

Acquired directly from the above sale by the present owner

Beverly Hills, Gagosian Gallery, Andy Warhol: $, November 1997, n.p., pl. 18, illustrated in colour.

Monte Carlo, Grimaldi Forum, SuperWarhol, July-August 2003, pp. 407 and 531, no. 186, illustrated in colour.

New York, Van de Weghe Fine Art, Andy Warhol: Dollar Signs, September-November 2004, pp. 7 and 42-43, no. 8, illustrated in colour and installation view illustrated in colour.

Hong Kong, Gagosian Gallery, Andy Warhol's Long Shadow, 25 March - 22 June, 2024.

Vibrating with fluorescent energy, Dollar Sign perfectly captures Andy Warhol's extraordinary ability to appropriate, subvert, and reinvent the motifs of consumer culture using his inimitable Pop aesthetic. Forming a part of the iconic Dollar Signs series that were executed in 1981, the present work is a magnificent explication of one of Warhol's primary, career-long, concerns: the social, cultural and creative potential of the American dollar as a signifier of status and wealth. In this series, Warhol transforms the '$' symbol into a mesmerizing, almost talismanic figure that reflects his intricate and intimate relationship with money. By isolating the dollar sign from the banknote and magnifying it to monumental scale, Warhol crafts a universal emblem that encapsulates the ambition, greed, and insatiable quest for wealth that underpin the darker undercurrents of the American Dream.

Money was a lifelong fascination for Warhol. He chronicled every penny spent with obsessive care, recognizing, much like his preoccupations with fame and faith, that wealth's influence was inseparable from its darker twin: greed. To be ensnared by it meant walking the tightrope between triumph and downfall. Philosopher and critic Arthur C. Danto famously remarked, 'We are all preoccupied with money, and, in its way, [Warhol's]...dollar sign is as much an emblem of America as the flag' (A.C. Danto, Andy Warhol Enterprises, 2009, p. 129).

Dollar Sign is an explosion of rich colour featuring layered silkscreen textures, each element distilling the concept of power and prosperity into a vast, shimmering '$.' This symbol hovers before the viewer, pulsating with vivid hues and enlivened by the energetic pencil strokes of Warhol's original sketches, expertly reproduced through his complex silkscreen technique. The electrifying palette- glimmering golds, stark blacks, and deep fuchsias- adds a surreal vibrancy, drawing the eye like an ancient totem or a glowing neon beacon. Warhol succeeds in extracting the very essence of money's allure and excess, evoking everything from the thrill of a casino jackpot's clink to the quiet satisfaction of an ATM dispensing bills.

Given their ambitious scale, intricate layering, and deeply personal symbolism, it's evident Warhol saw the Dollar Signs as a pivotal series' one aimed at reclaiming critical acclaim and commercial success. Debuting at the Castelli Gallery in early 1982, these works became emblematic of the 1980s' a decade defined by unprecedented financial influx into the art world that propelled figures like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Julian Schnabel to fame. As Warhol's close confidant David Bourdon observed, 'When they were shown at the Castelli Gallery- they appeared as prophetic emblems of the huge amounts of money that would pour into the art world during the following years. Warhol's Dollar Signs are brazen, perhaps insolent reminders that pictures by brand-name artists are metaphors for money, a situation that never troubled him' (D. Bourdon, Warhol, 1989, p. 384).

Warhol's genius lay in his ability to evoke the spirit of his time while simultaneously revealing timeless human truths. Calvin Tomkins once described him as 'a rather terrifying oracle' (C.Tomkins, Raggedy Andy, 1970, p. 10). Much like his portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy, and Campbell's Soup cans, which encapsulated the optimism and tragedy of the 1960s, Dollar Signs serve as potent icons of a different era. Painted in 1981, they capture the optimism surrounding "Reaganomics" and the "Morning in America"

campaign, symbolizing the decade's economic boom and cultural shift. Warhol himself attended Ronald Reagan's inauguration, marking a personal and national turning point.

It is fitting that Warhol chose the dollar sign to inaugurate this new chapter in his work. Having recently turned 50, he was reevaluating his artistic trajectory. The 1980s ushered in renewed creativity and critical engagement, as Warhol pursued fresh themes and techniques with renewed vigor. His later works- Rorschachs, Shadows, Last Supper, Guns, and Dollar Bills- reflect a deeply personal exploration of his fears, hopes, and obsessions: "Warhol's imaginative creativity during the last decade of his career can only be compared to the early 1960s...Those close to Warhol noted a vitality, energy, and spirit of experimentation during this period. He embraced each new project with enthusiasm, working tirelessly in the studio. This late phase saw more new series, larger in scale and number, than any previous period of his career...it was a time of extraordinary artistic growth, marked by a dramatic stylistic evolution and the introduction of new techniques addressing subjects of personal significance" (J. D. Ketner II , Andy Warhol: The Last Decade, 2009, p.16). A master of colour, Warhol's palette often danced between playful and provocative. This particular work dazzles with its fusion of glittering gold, vibrant fuchsia, and deep black, demonstrating the artist's unparalleled skill in balancing seemingly discordant colors to electrifying effect.

Created at a mature moment in his career in which the artist revisited and evaluated motifs from his earlier works, Dollar Sign is an exceptional example that displays the full gamut of Warhol's creative and artistic potency. With its liberated playfulness, the present work is a magnificent anthology of Warhol's individuated treatment of the dollar sign, and powerfully elucidates the artist's enduring obsession with the graphic value and symbolic currency of money.