Amid a drop in high-end art sales, Christie’s plans to auction Andy Warhol’s Big Electric Chair (1967–68) during its May evening sale in New York from the the collection of Belgian patrons Roger Matthys and Hilda Colle.
The painting, measuring six feet in width and featuring as its central subject a midcentury executioner’s chair, is estimated around $30 million. Matthys and Colle, both deceased, were known figures in the contemporary art scene in Ghent as benefactors to the SMAK contemporary art museum.
This sale comes amid a slowdown in art sales across the world. According to the 2025 Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, global art sales declined by 12 percent in 2024, falling to $57.5 billion. The downturn is attributed to a decrease in transactions at the high end, with sales of artworks priced above $10 million dropping by 45 percent.
Despite these difficulties, Christie’s is promoting the provenance of Big Electric Chair to attract bidders. If the painting achieves its estimate, it could set a new auction record for the series, surpassing the $20.4 million achieved by a similar work in 2014.
Alex Rotter, the auction house’s chairman of 20th and 21st century art, told ARTnews in an email that he has long considered the painting “one of the ultimate Warhols.”
“It’s the prime example of an important series, and a subject matter that he continued to return to over the course of time,” he said.
