Elizabeth Taylor portrait sold for about $27

PanARMENIAN.Net - A portrait of actress Elizabeth Taylor by Andy Warhol raked in $26,962,500 on the auction block.

"Liz #5" (1963) didn't come close to breaking the record for a Warhol - his "Green car crash-Green burning car I" (1963) sold for more than $71 million - but it did come close to the sale price of more than $23 million for "Liz" (1963) when it was auctioned at Christie's auction house in 2007.

Prior to its sale, "Liz #5" garnered a lot of interest in the art world, said Michael McGinnis, who heads the contemporary department at Philips de Pury & Co. He guessed that Taylor's death would bring a renewed interest to the piece, but that its artistry makes it valuable on its own.

Before its acquisition in 2007 for an undisclosed price, "Liz #5" belonged to famed art dealer and collector Ileana Sonnabend, who was an early admirer of Warhol, CNN reports.

In the early 1960s, Warhol, who was enamored by the glamorized and beautiful images of Hollywood stars, began his streak of works featuring iconic products and celebrities, including Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and, of course, Taylor.

The colored "Liz" series includes 13 pieces.