Andy Warhol — Space Fruit For Sale

Andy Warhol: Space Fruit – Still Lifes

Market Position & Series Performance

Andy Warhol's dominance of the postwar art market remains unmatched. The $195,040,000 result for Shot Sage Blue Marilyn at Christie's in May 2022 established a new ceiling for twentieth-century works at auction, while recent 2025 sales demonstrate continued institutional and private demand across all price segments. Mao F.S. II.96 and II.97 each achieved $4,648,000 at Christie's this May, and Flowers editions reached $4,076,000 and $3,832,000 at Sotheby's during the same sale season.

Within this sustained market, the Space Fruit: Still Lifes portfolio represents an undervalued entry point for collectors seeking authenticated Warhol screenprints with documented provenance. Individual sheets from Space Fruit have demonstrated consistent appreciation: Peaches F.S. II.202 moved from $68,750 in April 2019 to $132,300 by October 2022, representing 92% growth over approximately three and a half years. Cantaloupes F.S. II.198 tracked identical performance during the same window, suggesting the series trades as a cohesive unit rather than on individual image preference alone.

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Technical & Historical Context

Warhol executed the Space Fruit: Still Lifes portfolio between 1978 and 1979, with publication by Factory Additions, New York. The complete suite comprises six screenprints in colours on Lenox Museum Board, each measuring 30 × 40 inches. Individual images depict lemons, oranges, cantaloupes, watermelon, apples, peaches, and pears—rendered in Warhol's signature saturated palette against stark, black, cosmic backgrounds.

The series title references both the luminous, floating quality of the compositions and the era's fascination with space exploration. Warhol transforms ordinary supermarket produce into celestial objects, applying the same pictorial strategies he deployed for celebrities and consumer goods. The still life genre—academic, classical, European—becomes processed through Warhol's commercial sensibility, collapsing distinctions between fine art tradition and American consumer culture.

Technically, the prints showcase the sophisticated colour registration and layering that defined Warhol's late screenprint production, with gradients and shadow effects creating unexpected dimensionality.

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Individual Works & Collector Preferences

The complete portfolio of six prints commands the strongest collector interest, though individual sheets have developed distinct followings based on colour combinations and compositional impact.

Cantaloupes F.S. II.198 and Peaches F.S. II.202 have achieved the highest verified auction prices within the suite, both reaching $132,300 in October 2022. The warm colour profiles and compositional balance of these images contribute to their popularity among collectors integrating works into residential settings.

Watermelon F.S. II.199 features the most dramatic colour contrast within the portfolio—vivid pink and green against the characteristic black ground—making it a favoured choice for collectors seeking visual impact. Apples F.S. II.200 carries additional art-historical resonance given the fruit's prominence in Western still life tradition from Cézanne forward.

Lemons F.S. II.196 and Oranges F.S. II.197, dated 1978, represent the earliest executions in the series and appeal to collectors prioritising chronological documentation. Pears F.S. II.203 rounds out the portfolio with perhaps the most subtle colour relationships, prized by collectors with established Warhol holdings seeking lesser-seen imagery.

Guy Hepner maintains inventory across all six images, allowing collectors to acquire strategically based on existing collection profiles and specific installation requirements.

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Authentication & Condition Considerations

All Space Fruit prints should bear Warhol's signature in pencil, typically located at the lower right, alongside edition numbering. Works were published in an edition of 150, with additional proofs including artist's proofs, printer's proofs, and trial proofs that occasionally appear at auction or through dealer networks.

The Lenox Museum Board substrate used throughout the series was selected for archival stability, though condition assessment remains critical for valuation. Collectors should examine for:

• Consistent colour density without fading, particularly in the saturated background areas
• Sheet flatness without cockling or undulation from humidity exposure
• Clean margins free of handling marks, foxing, or skinning from previous framing
• Original surface integrity without restoration, inpainting, or conservation interventions

Guy Hepner provides detailed condition reports prepared by our conservation team for all inventory, and we facilitate third-party authentication review upon request. Given the portfolio's accessibility at current price levels, condition separates strong acquisitions from compromised examples that will underperform at future resale.

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Acquire Space Fruit Through Guy Hepner

Guy Hepner maintains the most active Warhol programme among New York's specialist print dealers. We hold current inventory in the Space Fruit series and source specific images upon request.

For availability, pricing, and detailed condition reports, contact our New York team directly. Private viewing appointments are available for collectors evaluating multiple works or building comprehensive Warhol positions.

Warhol's Broader Practice

This series belongs to the vast and varied body of print and painted work Warhol produced across five decades, during which he moved fluidly between celebrity portraiture, consumer product imagery, historical appropriation, and personal or commissioned subject matter — all filtered through the same signature screenprint process that flattened the distinction between mechanical reproduction and fine art. Warhol's insistence on treating commercial printing techniques as a primary artistic medium, rather than a secondary reproductive tool, remains one of the most influential positions in postwar American art.

Warhol's work is held in the permanent collections of major museums worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Tate Modern, and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, which maintains the most complete public archive of his output across all periods and subjects.