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Lichtenstein, Bacon and Warhol lead Sotheby’s auction, May 2012

TRoy Lichtenstein - Sleeping Girl, 1964

Roy Lichtenstein
Sleeping Girl, 1964
Sold for $44,882,500

Francis Bacon - Figure Writing Reflected In Mirror

Francis Bacon
Figure Writing Reflected In Mirror
Sold for $44,882,500

Lichtenstein, Bacon and Warhol lead Sotheby’s auction Roy Lichtenstein’s Sleeping Girl from 1964 was sold for $44,882,500, a new record for the artist at auction. The same price was achieved by Francis Bacon’s ‘Figure Writing Reflected In Mirror’. ‘Double Elvis [Ferus Type]’ by Andy Warhol sold for $37,042,500.]]>

May 10, 2012, source: Sotheby’s / theartwolf

Roy Lichtenstein’s “Sleeping Girl” is one of the high-points of the artist’s comic book inspired paintings and an icon of Post-War American art. The painting had not appeared on the market since it was purchased by Beatrice and Phillip Gersh in 1964. The previous auction record for a work by Lichtenstein was $43,202,500, paid last year for “I Can See the Whole Room…and There’s Nobody in It”.

Francis Bacon‘s “Figure Writing Reflected In Mirror” incorporates some of the artist’s most important themes and iconography, synchronizing the essence of Bacon’s life and art in an extraordinary painting. The work was included in the legendary 1977 exhibition at Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris, where it was shown alongside ‘Triptych, 1976’, which still holds the record price for any work of Contemporary art at auction. The painting sold for $44,882,500, the highest auction price for a single-panel painting by the artist.

“Double Elvis [Ferus Type]” by Andy Warhol -sold for $37,042,500- is a seminal piece from the iconic series devoted to the singer and actor that was first seen at the Ferus gallery in Los Angeles the year it was created.

Cy Twombly‘s “Untitled (New York City)” from 1966 sold for $17,442,500, comfortably within the $15/20 million estimate and establishing a new record for the artist at auction. Gerhard Richter‘s “Abstraktes Bild 768-2”, which hasn’t appeared on the market since 1992, was sold for $16,882,500, well-above the high estimate of $10 million

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Lichtenstein, Bacon and Warhol lead Sotheby's auction, May 2012