AO Auction Results – London: Christie’s Contemporary Evening Sale Realizes $127M, Bacon & Warhol Are Top Lots
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011
Francis Bacon, Study for a Portrait, 1953 (est. unpublished, realized $28.6 million), via Christies.com
Christie’s sale of Contemporary art on Tuesday night realized $127 million for 53 lots sold. The total, which fell just above the high estimate of $125 million once fees were added, is the highest for any sale at Christie’s in Europe since the boom of June 2008. The top lot was a Francis Bacon self portrait that shows a man sitting in a throne-like chair wearing a suit and glasses. The painting sold for $28.6 million against an unpublished estimate rumored to be about $17 million. A self portrait by the artist sold for $25 million at Christie’s spring sale in New York .
Andy Warhol, Mao, 1973 (est. $9.6-12.8 million, realized $11.1 million), via Christies.com
