DESPITE, or perhaps because of the international economic nervousness relating to the crisis in Greece, huge sums of money were spent on art this week.
On Wednesday night, Sotheby’s sale raised £108 million (€119 million) – the highest total ever achieved for any sale of contemporary art in London.
Buyers from 14 countries participated and 29 works sold for over £1 million (€1.1 million).
A 1961 painting by Irish-born artist Francis Bacon (who died in 1992) titled Crouching Nudemade £8.3 million (€9.1 million); Die Grosse Nacht im Eimer(the Big Night Down the Drain), a painting by German artist Georg Baselitz "inspired" by the image of Brendan Behan reading his poetry drunk on stage with his trouser flies open, made £2.4 million (€2.6 million). Andy Warhol's portrait of Debbie Harry from the pop group Blondie, sold for £3.7 million (€4 million).
The previous day, Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art evening auction in London realised £78 million (€86 million) with 19 lots selling for over £1 million (€1.1 million). Buyers came from: Europe, including the UK, (59 per cent), the Americas (26 per cent) and Asia (15 per cent). Francis Bacon's Study For A Portrait, 195 sold for £18 million (€19.9 million). The painting was once owned by Irish artist Louis le Brocquy who sold it during the 1980s. A portrait of Chinese tyrant Mao, 1973, by Andy Warhol sold for £6.9 million (€7.6 million). – MP
