1976 Bacon Painting Auctioned for an Astounding $86 Million

By Jane Ivory
12:52, May 15th 2008
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1976 Bacon Painting Auctioned for an Astounding $86 Million

A new record has been set in the world of art auctions, this time around for painter Francis Bacon, whose “Triptych, 1976” was sold Wednesday night for $86.28 million at Sotheby’s spring contemporary art sale in New York.

Sotheby’s had a good night Wednesday, with its spring auction of postwar and contemporary art. The pieces presented brought a $362 million total including commission, reports Reuters. 87 percent of the 83 lots on offer found buyers.

Francis Bacon’s three-panel painting “Triptych, 1976” bringing the artist an auction record. Each of the panels measures about 6.5 by 5 feet and depict themes from Greek mythology.

The piece has belonged to a private collector from Europe since it was first exhibited in Paris in 1977. Sotheby’s had estimated the three-canvas painting would sell for about $70 million, an estimation that was exceeded through the telephone bidding of two persons.

The previous record for a work by the Irish-born Bacon was set last year, when “Study For Innocent X,” 1962, sold for $52.68 million. Bacon died in 1992.

Last night’s sale was part of the most lucrative night in Sotheby’s nearly 300-year history. It “the highest total ever for a contemporary art sale at Sotheby’s,” confirmed its head of contemporary art, Tobias Meyer.

It also marked the second record for a contemporary artwork set this week, after the sale of a Lucian Freud painting Tuesday at Christie’s. “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping,” a 1995 painting of a nude, obese woman, brought the auction house $33 million and set a world record for a work by a living artist.

Artist Yves Klein also set a record, with three of his paintings bringing in considerably more than previously estimated. “MG 9” for example sold for $23.56 million, nearly three times its high presale estimate.

Takashi Murakami’s “My Lonesome Cowboy” had been valued at between three and four million dollars and sold for $15.1 million.

Tom Wesselmann, Lee Krasner, Brice Marden and Piero Manzoni set records as well.

Pop artist Robert Rauschenberg, who died in Florida this week, set a posthumous record with “Overdrive,” auctioned for $14.6 million.



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