£30m price tag on quick-draw Elvis

The Double Elvis (Ferus Type) was to go under the hammer during a contemporary art sale in New York City yesterday. The silver silkscreen painting shows the rock’n’roll heart-throb armed and shooting from the hip. A shadowy Elvis figure is faintly visible in the background.

It was first shown at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles in 1963.

The auction house said it is the first Double Elvis to appear on the market since 1995. The picture was expected to fetch between $30m (£18.6m) and $50m (£30.9m).

Sotheby’s identified the seller only as a private collector.

Warhol produced 22 images of Elvis. Nine are in museum collections.

Meanwhile, a painting by French artist Yves Klein created with water, a blowtorch and two models has sold at a New York City auction today for $36.4m (£22.6m).

Christie’s auction house said FC 1 set an auction record for the artist. The painting was sold to a buyer who wishes to remain anonymous, Christie’s said.

The painting was completed a few weeks before the artist’s death in 1962 at 34 and is considered his masterpiece. It was offered for sale by an anonymous Swiss collector.

Klein invited the media to observe the creation of FC 1, which was videotaped and featured in a documentary on the artist, La Revolution Bleue.

Among other highlights at the sale was Mark Rothko’s Orange, Red, Yellow, which had been in the collection of the late philanthropist David Pincus of Philadelphia and for years was on loan at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

It sold for $86.8m (£53.9m), a record for the artist.

It was the most important Rothko to come on the market since 2007 when White Centre (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) sold for $72.8m (£45.2m), the previous record.