Francis Bacon – Portrait of George Dyer Talking made £42.2 million.
Francis Bacon’s portrait of his lover George Dyer sold for £42.2 million at Christie’s in London on February 13. It became the most expensive work of Post War and Contemporary art sold at auction in Europe. The sale totalled £124,192,000 and there were record prices for six artists, including Bridget Riley and Domenico Gnoli. The auction sold 83% by lot and 95% by value.
Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild (1989) sold for £19,570,500; Jeff Koons’s Cracked Egg (Magenta) (1994-2007) sold for £14,082,500; Damien Hirst’s Mickey sold for £902,500; Domenico Gnoli’s Black Hair (1969) sold for £7,026,500; Bridget Riley’s Chant 2 sold for £2,882,500 and Jenny Saville’s Plan (1993) sold for £2,098,500.
Francis Outred, International Director and Head of Post-War & Contemporary Art, Christie’s Europe said: ““The astonishing energy and depth of bidding at this evening’s auction follows on from the record auction of Post-War and Contemporary Art in New York last November, and it is fitting that this sale, like that one, was led by a Francis Bacon masterpiece. The strong results were underpinned by the quality of the works and driven by global demand, with both new and established bidders from Europe, America and Asia competing at the sale”.
(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for January 15 and January 22, 2014).