Classic Andy Warhol ‘Macintosh’ Painting Could Fetch $600,000 at Auction

Sotheby's will soon be auctioning a contemporary Macintosh painting by the late Andy Warhol, a successful artist known for his paintings of iconic American objects like Coca-Cola and Campbell's Soup and celebrities including Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali.

Macintosh-Ad-Warhol
The acrylic and silkscreen canvas painting is part of Warhol's "Ads" suite from 1985, one year after the original Macintosh launched. The painting, which features Apple's old rainbow logo sandwiched between the words Apple and Macintosh, is estimated to receive between $400,000 and $600,000 U.S. at auction.

"We went into Sean [John Lennon's son]'s bedroom–and there was a kid there setting up the Apple computer that Sean had gotten as a present, the Macintosh model. I said that once some man had been calling me a lot wanting to give me one, but that I'd never called him back or something, and then the kid looked up and said, 'Yeah, that was me. I'm Steve Jobs.' And he looked so young, like a college guy. And he told me that he would still send me one now. And then he gave me a lesson on drawing with it. It only comes in black and white now, but they'll make it soon in color...I felt so old and out of it with this young whiz guy right there who helped invent it." — Andy Warhol

The starting bid for the Macintosh painting will be $280,000 U.S. when the eBay auction starts on November 12 at 9:30 AM Eastern. The painting is in very good condition overall based on the Sotheby's report, with only light wear and handling along the edges, minor hairline craquelure, possible retouching and a few other blemishes.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
macbook pro blue green

When Will Apple Release the M5 MacBook Pro?

Wednesday March 26, 2025 4:53 pm PDT by
Apple regularly refreshes the MacBook Pro models, and a new version that uses M5 series chips is in the works. Apple just finished refreshing most of the Mac lineup with M4 chips, and now it's time for the M5. Rumors suggest that we could see the first M5 MacBook Pro models this fall. Design There have been no rumors of a design update for the M5 MacBook Pro models that are coming this...
Apple Lumon Terminal Pro

Apple's Mac Site Features Fictional 'Lumon Terminal Pro'

Wednesday March 26, 2025 12:19 pm PDT by
Apple is going all out with promotions for the popular Severance Apple TV+ show today, and as of right now, you'll find a new "Lumon Terminal Pro" listed on Apple's Mac site. The Lumon Terminal Pro is designed to look similar to the machines that Severance employees like Mark S. and Helly R. use for macrodata refinement. The Terminal features a blue keyboard, a small display with wide...
Facebook Feature

Facebook's New iPhone App Feature Turns the Clock Back to 2007

Thursday March 27, 2025 1:59 pm PDT by
In the mid-to-late 2000s, Facebook was all about staying connected with friends and family. However, as the social media platform added new features and grew over time, that core experience began to get drowned out. That changes starting now, according to Meta, which today introduced a new feature that will "bring back the joy" of classic Facebook. Specifically, Meta has redesigned the...
Generic iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Coming Soon With These New Features for Your iPhone

Tuesday March 25, 2025 6:45 am PDT by
Apple is expected to release iOS 18.4 to the general public as soon as next week, following more than a month of beta testing. Apple's website says some iOS 18.4 features will be released in "early April," so the update should be out as early as Tuesday, April 1. Apple this week seeded the iOS 18.4 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, barring the discovery of any...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Supports 8K Video Recording, Suggests Leaker [Updated]

Wednesday March 26, 2025 4:06 am PDT by
Update 7:25 pm: Based on comments from our forums, it appears the original Weibo post may have been mistranslated and "8K" actually refers to the high price of the device rather than 8K video recording capabilities. The iPhone 16 Pro currently starts at 7,999 yuan in China. Our original article follows below. Apple's forthcoming iPhone 17 Pro models are capable of shooting 8K video, up...
iOS 18 4 Ambient Music Control Center

How to Use iOS 18.4's New Ambient Music Feature in Control Center

Thursday March 27, 2025 7:45 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 18.4 update for the iPhone adds an Ambient Music feature to Control Center. Below, we take a closer look at how it works. iOS 18.4 is currently in beta, so the Ambient Music feature is not widely available yet. The update will likely be released to the general public next week. To use the feature on iOS 18.4, open Control Center and tap on the plus sign in the top-left...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

'iPhone Fold' to Feature Metallic Glass Hinge That Resists Deformation

Thursday March 27, 2025 4:21 am PDT by
Last week, we covered a report claiming that Apple's book-style foldable iPhone (or "iPhone Fold," as we are provisionally calling it here) will use liquid metal hinges to improve durability and help minimize screen creasing. Today, a Chinese leaker provided more details on the properties of this hinge material that help to clarify why Apple chose it for its first foldable device. According...
iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Expected Next Week - Here Are the Release Notes

Friday March 28, 2025 2:01 pm PDT by
With the second release candidate of iOS 18.4 that Apple seeded out today, the company finally provided us with release notes that give a full rundown on what to expect. There's an Apple Vision Pro app, new Apple Intelligence features for notifications and additional language support, plus an Apple News Food feature for Apple News+ subscribers, and several updates that should improve the...

Top Rated Comments

jdillings Avatar
123 months ago
Great story
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mrxak Avatar
123 months ago
I'm not really an Andy Warhol fan, but those criticizing him here saying they don't get art, you're right, you don't get art. More accurately, you don't get art history. It may look obvious and simplistic now, decades after the fact, but there's a reason nobody really did it before he came along. It took a certain creative genius (read: insanity) to come up with doing this sort of thing, and Andy Warhol did "it" very well. Furthermore pop art follows from a long history of artistic movements, going back through expressionism to impressionism (I'm skipping a bunch of steps, but those are the ones you've probably at least have heard of). The same sorts of criticism you're leveling at Andy Warhol was leveled at people like Vincent van Gogh or Claude Monet, and will continue to be leveled at all the greats of every new art movement.

There's a lot of people who can copy an Andy Warhol piece, I'm sure. There's also a lot of people who can copy a Vincent van Gogh piece too. Good luck selling your work for Andy Warhol or Vincent van Gogh prices.

I also find it particularly amusing that so many people on this site of all sites would be making fun of Andy Warhol for being too obvious or simplistic. In retrospect, the same can be said for everything to come out of Jony Ive's lab, yet presumably if you're here you're a fan of his work at least on some level. So I'll just ask you all, what's wrong with simplicity?

I had no idea Andy Warhol ever used Apple as a subject, but I'd certainly say they're a match made in heaven.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
captain cadet Avatar
123 months ago
Looks like something a toddler could do...
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
fourthtunz Avatar
123 months ago
I'd like to know the back story of how Steve Jobs ended up bringing a Mac over to John Lennon's house :)
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kemal Avatar
123 months ago
No one will ever need to spend more than 640k on this.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Porco Avatar
123 months ago
I preferred his Amiga work.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)