View all newsletters
Have the short, sharp Spear's newsletter delivered to your inbox each week
  1. Luxury
  2. Art & Culture
November 13, 2013updated 11 Jan 2016 1:52pm

Sale of most expensive painting ever met with art world cynicism

By Spear's

Smashing the world record for a work of art sold at auction, Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud fetched $142 million at Christie’s New York last night. The sale itself, of Post-War and Contemporary art, took $692 million, the highest total for a single auction in history.

The record was previously held by Edward Munch’s The Scream, which sold at Sotheby’s last year for $120 million. (All prices include buyer’s premium.)

Among other artists represented were Warhol, Judd, Pollock, Rothko and Koons, while collectors selling included Peter Brant, Steven Cohen, Robert Stern and Eric Clapton (who broke records last year selling Richters).

Reaction in the non-auction-house part of the art world has ranged from cynical to *really* cynical:

The onward march of the art market, smashing records and astounding onlookers, partly powered by newly-wealthy emerging market collectors, shows little sign of stopping.

Read more on the art world from Spear’s

[related_companies]

Select and enter your email address The short, sharp email newsletter from Spear’s
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how Progressive Media Investments may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network