 Man in a String Chair took two years to paint |
Ten world records were set at a sale of post-war and contemporary art, auction house Christie's said. Works by Eduado Chillida, Frank Auerbach, and Georg Baselitz were among the pieces that set new records.
Paintings by Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon were also auctioned at the sale in London.
Christie's Laetitia Catoir said the post-war and contemporary art market was going "from strength to strength" as buyers emerge from the Far East.
Self-portrait
Among the world records set at the sale were Chillida's Elogio de la Arquitectura which sold for �1.24m, �500,000 above the highest estimate, and Auerbach's Tree on Primrose Hill which sold for �433,600 - more than �400,00 above expected.
Mattias Weischer's Ohne Titel fetched �220,800, while Baselitz's Ein Roter sold for �1.24m.
Three of the star lots also sold above estimate, with Bacon's Self Portrait going for �5.16m - almost three times its �1.4-�1.8 million guide price.
Bacon's Study From Portrait of Pope Innocent X by Velazquez went for �5.26m.
Man in a String Chair, by British artist Freud, sold for �4.15m.
The painting, of gambling magnate Victor Chandler, was not a commissioned portrait but was painted at Freud's own instigation.
The portrait took almost two years to complete, with Chandler sitting as often as four times a week, sometimes for six hours at a time.
One-Minute World News 
News services
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 