Anxious Girl by Roy Lichtenstein reappears after more than three decades and heads to auction at Christie’s with an estimate of up to 60 million dollars. The painting, now at the center of the Pop market, will be auctioned in New York on May 18.
Why does this work attract so much attention?
Created in 1964, “Anxious Girl” comes from the “Girl” series of Lichtenstein’s Pop period. The work has emerged from a private collection and is valued between 40 and 60 million dollars.
The auction of Lichtenstein’s work will take place in the 20th Century Evening Sale at Christie’s. For the market, this is a significant event because works from this series rarely come to auction. Additionally, the painting has been out of public view for more than thirty years.
How does it fit into the Girl series?
Lichtenstein created his first Pop work in 1961. However, his most sought-after works remain the early close-up portraits of women, painted between 1963 and 1965, with a style reminiscent of comics.
The “Girl” series includes ten works of this type out of a total of one hundred paintings created by the artist during the period. This group also includes “Frightened Girl” (1964), “Seductive Girl” (1964), and “Girl With Hair Ribbon” (1965).
That said, the work originates from a cover of “Girls’ Romances #97” (1963), published by DC Comics. In the pictorial transposition, Lichtenstein focuses attention on the face and expression of the protagonist, adding a crease to the eyebrows.
What technical elements make the painting rare?
As in the other canvases of the series, the typical Benday dots appear. In this case, the rendering of the dots was executed directly by the artist. Additionally, along with “Tension” (1964), “Anxious Girl” is among the only canvases of the series made without oil.
The painting measures 36 by 26 inches. It is therefore smaller than “Nurse” (48 by 48 inches) and “Sleeping Girl” (36 by 36 inches). This scale also impacts the market reading, along with private sales and the demand for vintage Pop still available.
How does it compare to other sales today?
“Sleeping Girl” (1964) reached 44.8 million dollars at Sotheby’s in 2012. “Nurse” (1964) hit 95 million dollars in 2015 and is the artist’s auction record, as well as being the last work of the “Girl” series to appear publicly on the market.
According to the price database of Artnet, many of Lichtenstein’s most expensive works at auction depict women. However, overall, the artist more often represented men, even though in the compositions female figures remain central and men often appear as secondary elements.
In the case of “Anxious Girl”, no man appears. The scene conveys an autonomous unease, which seems to arise from the protagonist’s inner state. Overall, this aspect strengthens the painting’s power on a historical and collectible level.
For further references to the artistic and market context, you can consult the site of Christie’s.
As expert in digital marketing, Amelia began working in the fintech sector in 2014 after writing her thesis on Bitcoin technology. Previously author for several international crypto-related magazines and CMO at Eidoo. She is now the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Cryptonomist and Econique.
She is also a marketing teacher at Digital Coach in Milan and she published a book about NFTs for the Italian publishing house Mondadori, while she is also helping artists and company to entering in the sector. As advisor, Amelia is also involved in metaverse-related project such as The Nemesis and OVER.
