On his pre-blizzard gallery run, greg.org hero and advance scout Jack got curious about why this small, unassuming Warhol at Christie’s was dedicated to Dr. Linda Li. Turns out she was the first to treat him when he started having gallbladder pain in January 1987.
Unfortunately for Warhol, Dr. Li was a chiropractor, and her massage only made Warhol’s pain worse. It took him three more weeks to see an actual specialist. He got promptly admitted to the hospital undercover, had surgery, and then died in recovery on February 22nd, 39 years ago last Sunday.
If only we didn’t have a healthcare system where even rich, famous somebodies with bodies had to barter paintings for unhelpful medical care, Warhol might still be with us. He’d be 98, and New York Magazine would be asking him what he thought of Heated Rivalry.
[later in the day update]
After someone mentioned The Warhol Diaries, I looked, and Dr. Li is all over them; Warhol went to her all the time for vitamins, massage/alignment/chiro and crystals, and so did a bunch of other famous people. So I imagine this painting, dated 1985, is more likely to have been a gift at some point, not a straight-up attempt to get out of paying for treatment. Hilariously, Warhol was wary of doctors especially who wanted to take art for payment. One guy asked, and he said, “maybe a print,” and the dr. was like, “No, I mean a portrait for me, and one for my mother,” and Warhol was all, “He wants $50,000 worth of art? What do I do?”
Lot 232, 26 Feb 2026, Andy Warhol, Be a Somebody with a Body, 1985, est. $60-80,000 [update: sold for $65,000][christies]