Record Breaking Art AuctionKean Wong: A portrait by a British artist went for a whopping $33.6 million at Christie's in New York, shattering the previous record by $10 million set last November. Lucien Freud's portrait of a nude woman sleeping on a sofa has shot into the record books after selling for the highest figure ever paid for a painting by a living artist. The British artist's 'Benefits Supervisor Sleeping' woke the art world with a start as it sold for more than 33.6 million dollars. The price tag was ten million dollars ahead of the previous record set only last November. It was one of eight records smashed at Christie's in New York on Tuesday. The auction offered less than 60 lots which Christie's officials say was purposely low. [Brett Gorvy, Christie's Art Specialist]: "We cut down the number of works within the sale. We also concentrated more and more on quality and went out into the market looking for works, very pro-actively looking for great material." The sale, driven predominantly by American buyers, defied erratic financial markets to bring in a total of 350 million dollars. Mark Rothko's No. 15 went for over 50 million, way above its pre-sale estimate. Andy Warhol's Double Marlon sold for more than 32 million. Almost all the lots on offer found buyers despite fears by some auction officials that the spring sales could mark the start of a market downturn. code pour embarquer la vidéo : >>> http://www.youtube.com/embed/9vMzHsXmE1I <<< |