YEREVAN, MAY 10, ARMENPRESS. An iconic painting of Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol has been auctioned at Christies in New York for $195m (£158.17m) - making it the most expensive piece of 20th Century art ever sold, the BBC reported.

The painting, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, was painted by Warhol in 1964 using a famous photograph as inspiration.

The amount is also the highest ever paid for an American work of art.

Ahead of the auction, Christie's wrote that the painting is "one of the rarest and most transcendent images in existence", with a selling price "in the region" of $200m.

The auction ended with a sale price of $170m, which rose to $195m with taxes and fees taken into account.

Bloomberg reports that the winning bidder was Armenian-American art dealer Larry Gagosian, who owns a chain of art galleries and was present at the auction.