LONDON.- The dollar ($) is perhaps the most widely-recognised and potent symbol of our time, a shorthand for wealth, power and the American Dream. On 1 and 2 July 2015, Sotheby's will offer a museum-quality private collection which explores how this iconic motif has provided such a rich source of inspiration for contemporary artists over the last sixty years. At the heart of the collection lies the most important group of Andy Warhol “dollar” paintings in private hands: era-defining masterpieces, led by the artist’s very first painting in the series: One Dollar Bill (Silver Certificate), 1962. Estimated at £13-18m, this is the only one of Warhol’s dollars to have been painted entirely by hand.

“The collection of Warhols was put together with a unique focus and vision over 30 years, building a group of masterpieces that would be impossible to assemble today” said Cheyenne Westphal, Co-Head, Contemporary Art Worldwide.

All 21 works in the collection, together estimated at £41-57m, take the American dollar as their subject. As with his soup cans and Marilyns, Warhol’s dollars have become icons of our time. Today, they are more relevant than ever before, prophesising the cultural power of the US dollar and the elevated status of art as a commodity in its own right. Warhol’s visionary paintings feature alongside key examples by artists including Keith Haring, Joseph Beuys and Tim Noble & Sue Webster. Exhibited publicly for the first time, these works examine the huge cultural influence of the US dollar and confront a debate that has occupied artists and critics for generations: the relationship between art and money.

“American money is very well-designed, really. I like it better than any other kind of money.” Andy Warhol

Warhol was obsessed with money, writing “Money is the MOMENT to me. Money is my MOOD”, and revisiting the theme throughout his career. The seven Warhols in “To the Bearer on Demand” chart the development of this definitive series, from the first hand-painted dollar of the early 1960s to the iconic large-scale silkscreens of the 1980s. Taken individually, these works are exceptional for their pedigree, provenance and rarity. As a collection, they offer an unrivalled insight into the germination and development of the foremost theme that drove the artist throughout his career.

There are a number of apocryphal tales as to why Warhol first turned to money as a subject. In one, Eleanor Ward, the director of the artist’s first major gallery, claimed that she promised Warhol his first one-man show in exchange for a painting of her lucky two dollar bill. In another, the art dealer Muriel Laptow suggested to Warhol that he paint what he liked the best, to which he replied “money”.

Andy Warhol, One Dollar Bill (Silver Certificate), 1962, est. £13-18m
Not only did this picture set the foundations for the entire dollar bill series, it is the only painting from this body of work to have been painted entirely by hand. The composition is based on a photograph taken by Warhol’s close friend Edward Wallowitch. The deliberate cropping and consciously uneven detail pre-empt the silk-screening process that the artist would adopt soon after completing the painting.

One Dollar Bill (Silver Certificate) is one of the defining works of the artist’s career – both in terms of subject matter and technique. It represents an artistic turning point from which one can trace the beginnings of American Pop Art, setting in motion the aesthetic conditions by which all of Warhol’s future work would follow.

Andy Warhol, Front and Back Dollar Bills, 1962-63, est. £13-18m
Created only a few months after the hand-painted One Dollar Bill (Silver Certificate), the “Dollar Bills” series was the very first to incorporate the artist’s trademark silkscreen process - a method that would come to revolutionise the course of 20thcentury art. Warhol’s skill as a draughtsman and his love of money find perfect union in these first silkscreened paintings where there is a beautiful tension within the machinated repetitions of hand-drawn images. Warhol created just 8 large “Dollar Bills” paintings in this ground breaking series. Two of these are included in the present collection: Front and Back Dollar Bills, 1962-63, est. £13-18m (pictured right) and Two Dollar Bills (Back) (40 Two Dollar Bills in Green), 1962, est. £57m. Other works from this series are housed in the illustrious international collections of the Museum Ludwig, Cologne; and Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Berlin; the Froehlich Collection and the Estate of esteemed collector Myron Orlofsky.

Andy Warhol, Dollar Sign, 1981, est. £4-6m (left) and Dollar Signs, 1981, est. £4.5-6.5m
By the 1980s, Warhol was the most famous and commercially successful artist of his generation. Returning to the subject that had marked the beginning of his ascent to artistic greatness, his 1981 dollar signs are regarded among his most powerful late series. From humble beginnings in Industrial Pittsburgh, Warhol was now at the height of his fame and the symbol of the dollar had taken on a new significance. Monumental in scale and luminous in their palette, these late masterpieces mark the apogee of his mature career. The extraordinary Dollar Sign, 1981 and Dollar Signs, 1981 are true icons of their era – as bold and confident in their striking luminosity as the booming economic times in which they were created.

“Big-time art is big-time money" Andy Warhol
Warhol’s appropriation of the dollar continues to inspire successive generations of artists. This legacy was most immediately evident in the work of Keith Haring. Warhol played a decisive role in the commercial success of Haring, mentoring the young artist who had emerged as a street artist in 1980s New York. "You see, whatever I've done would not have been possible without Andy. Had Andy not broken the concept of what art is supposed to be, I just wouldn't have been able to exist." Haring would depict Warhol in his paintings as the “Andy Mouse” character, part Mickey, part Andy, surrounded by dollar signs: the ultimate American brand.

Despite his untimely death aged 32, Haring, like Warhol, made a significant impact on American popular culture. For Warhol there was no conflict between art and business, but for Haring the relationship was far more complex. He was a social activist, with roots as a graffiti artist, who continued to create huge public murals throughout his career. At times the young artist struggled with his rapid rise to commercial success. So in Untitled, 1982 (est. £250,000350,000) the dollar symbol, turned into an icon of pop-art by Warhol, takes on new significance at the hands of his protégé.

Today’s artists continue to use the unique power of the US dollar to explore the relationship between art and money. Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s glitzy $, 2001 (est. £100,000-150,000), studded with shimmering white lights, mesmerises the viewer. Like Warhol’s 1981 Dollar Sign, it is a piece that embodies its own status as both a work of art and an object of value and desire.

Throughout this unparalleled collection, leading artists explore the huge cultural significance of the dollar, including works by Joseph Beuys, Arman, Scott Campbell, Francesco Clemente, Robert Silvers, Cildo Meireles, Ronnie Cutrone, Jin Wang, Liu Zheng and Gustave Buchet.