Andy Warhol painting rejected by Trump Tower rakes in over $900,000

[Coloroscopio]

Image: Marion Meyer | Dreamstime.com

 

Decades before his political career, Donald Trump managed to get under Andy Warhol’s skin. A rejected commission from 1981 has sold for nearly a million dollars at auction, carrying with it both an air of artistic admiration and a slice of New York City drama.

 

Back in 1981, Warhol was commissioned to create a series of silkscreen paintings for the soon-to-be Trump Tower. Unfortunately, the New York Skyscrapers series, with its shimmering black, silver, and gold palette, didn’t quite mesh with the Trumps' design vision for their flashy new building.

 

 The works, adorned with Warhol's signature diamond dust for a dash of glamor, were ultimately dismissed for not fitting the tower's color scheme. In typical Warhol fashion, the artist vented his frustration in his diaries, labeling Trump as “sort of cheap.”

 

Quote

The Trumps came down. […] I showed them the paintings of the Trump Tower that I’d done. I don’t know why I did so many, I did eight. In black and gray and silver which I thought would be so chic for the lobby. But it was a mistake to do so many, I think it confused them. Mr. Trump was very upset that it wasn’t color-coordinated. They have Angelo Donghia doing the decorating so they’re going to come down with swatches of material so I can do the paintings to match the pinks and oranges. I think Trump’s sort of cheap, though, I get that feeling.

 

Four decades later, one of these rejected pieces has made a comeback—not on a wall at Trump Tower, but on the auction block at Phillips in New York, with estimates suggesting it could fetch between $500,000 and $700,000. The piece ended up selling for $952,500.

Image: Phillips

 

Warhol’s brief run-in with Trump, though short-lived, left a mark on the artist. Introduced by Fran Lebowitz, Warhol had hoped to place these pieces in Trump’s ambitious Fifth Avenue tower. The two met, and the deal seemed set; however, once the paintings were completed, the Trumps found them lacking the colorful pizzazz they envisioned. Warhol, whose vibrant pop art defined an era, wasn't pleased to see his skyscraper tributes being declined over what essentially boiled down to an interior design choice. Despite the snub, Warhol couldn’t avoid Trump entirely—he kept running into the real estate tycoon and his then-wife Ivana at various social gatherings, and the experience was immortalized in his diaries.

 

 

The artwork itself, part of Warhol's broader commentary on urban landscapes, features the then-new Trump Tower in Warhol's recognizable bold, graphic style. The use of diamond dust was meant to echo the luxury and excess that Trump Tower symbolized, fitting right in with Warhol's fascination with fame, wealth, and the American dream. 

 

The sale arrives at an intriguing moment, with Trump recently re-elected as US President.

 

• https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/andy-warhol-portrait-that-donald-trump-rejected-goes-up-for-auction-in-new-york-city 
• https://nypost.com/2024/11/19/us-news/andy-warhols-painting-of-trump-tower-that-donald-trump-rejected-in-the-80s-up-for-auction/ 
• https://luxurylaunches-com.webpkgcache.com/doc/-/s/luxurylaunches.com/auctions/a-mystery-millionaire-shelled-out-952000-for-andy-warhols-rejected-painting-of-the-trump-tower-as-dazzling-as-the-shiny-tower-itself-the-painting-made-using-gold-glitter-was-to-grace-the-lobby-o.php 
• https://www.6sqft.com/andy-warhols-trump-tower-painting-which-trump-never-paid-for-heads-to-auction/ 
• https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/andy-warhol-donald-trump-tower-painting-sznvm5fh7