Print Portfolio Performance 2000-2022

Note: for the most updated 2023 Warhol market data, click here.

As Warhol’s painting underwent a period of transition from the mid-60s through the early ‘70s, he began creating prints on paper to accompany his canvas masterpieces. In most cases, the prints were iterations of the paintings, capturing their essence while remaining distinct from them.

In rapid succession, Warhol created print portfolios of Marilyn Monroe (1967), Flash – November 22, 1963 (1968), Campbell’s Soup (1968-69), Flowers (1970), Electric Chairs (1971), Sunset (1972), and Mao (1972). Warhol’s portfolio print-making then waned in the ‘70s before returning in full force in the mid-’80s. About half of his portfolios were created in the last six years of his career.

Warhol portfolios comprise between two and sixteen images, which he intended to be displayed together. Larger portfolios, however, are cumbersome and presented relative difficulty to display. A single print from the Myths or Endangered Species portfolios measures thirty-eight inches on each side, capable of visually filling a wall on its own. Their size made whole portfolios nearly impossible to display in their entirety in a typical residential room in the ‘60s and ‘70s—especially in New York City and other big cities in which Warhol’s collector base was concentrated.

As a result, the portfolios were slowly broken up and sold as individual prints. Few portfolios remain intact, and they have become so rare that some larger portfolios do not come up for sale for years a time. Between 2000–2022, approximately 590 complete Warhol portfolios were sold publicly. Assuming private sales are equal to public, that is an average of only about fifty portfolios available for purchase per year.

As portfolios have become rarer, both living spaces and museums have grown larger, increasing demand for artwork that can fill those spaces. Additionally, more private owners, gallerists, and exhibitors can afford to purchase portfolios than could forty years ago. This imbalance between supply and demand has led to a swift, steady rise in the value of nearly all portfolios, far faster than that of individual prints. In 2000, the average sales price of a portfolio was $29,000; in 2022, it was $486,000.

Prints are now going for above early portfolio prices, and print portfolios are selling for above old painting prices. For example, in the early 2000s, a Campbell’s Soup I portfolio would sell for about $75,000. In 2022, that was the cost of a single print, and the portfolio sold for $1,260,000. Additionally, portfolios have become worth more than the sum of their parts. For example, the average sales price of a single print in 2022 from Cowboys and Indians was $29,600; the three portfolios that were transacted publicly in 2022 sold for an average of $608,000, or more than twice as much per print.