Francis Bacon painting goes for massive $142.4MILLION making it the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction



Francis Bacon's three-paneled painting 'Three Studies of Lucian Freud' became the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction on Tuesday

The 1969 triptych, never before offered at auction, carried a pre-sale estimate of about $85 million ahead of the Christie's sale



It easily eclipsed the $119.9 million price of Edvard Munch's 'The Scream,' achieved in May of last year at Sotheby's

Francis Bacon's three-paneled painting 'Three Studies of Lucian Freud' became the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction on Tuesday when it soared to $142.4 million at Christie's.

The 1969 triptych, never before offered at auction and which carried a pre-sale estimate of about $85 million, easily eclipsed the $119.9 million price of Edvard Munch's 'The Scream,' achieved in May of last year at Sotheby's.



The painting sold after a protracted bidding war in the packed New York salesroom and via telephone. Christie's did not disclose the identity of the successful buyer.

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Expensive: Francis Bacon's three-paneled painting Three Studies Of Lucian Freud, pictured, became the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction on Tuesday when it soared to $142.4 million at Christie's

Auction: The 1969 triptych, never before offered at auction, carried a pre-sale estimate of about $85 million

The art work along with one by Andy Warhol were expected to break records, boosting an already surging market for top-tier works.

Christie's sale on Tuesday was led by Bacon' 1969 triptych.



The jaw-dropping price easily broke the $86.3 million Bacon record set in 2008, months before financial markets crashed and sent the art market into a brief decline.



Since then, new, deep-pocketed collectors from around the globe have driven prices to record levels.



At a recent preview, Christie's head of postwar and contemporary art, Brett Gorvy, noted that collectors from Asia, Russia and the Mideast flush with cash were determined to assemble world-class collections featuring trophy works.

New record: The jaw-dropping price easily broke the $86.3 million Bacon, pictured, record set in 2008, months before financial markets crashed and sent the art market into a brief decline

Famed artist: Bacon is one of America's most famed painters. Two of his other works of art are shown left and right

In May, Christie's achieved the highest total in the history of auctions when it sold $495 million worth of art at its postwar and contemporary sale.



The auction house said Bacon's three-paneled work, which depicts the Dublin-born painter's friend and fellow artist Lucian Freud on a chair, with a view from each side and one face on, was 'a true masterpiece that marks Bacon and Freud's relationship' and their 'creative and emotional kinship.'



'The juxtaposition of radiant sunshine yellow contrasting with the brutal physicality and immediacy of the brushstrokes in this celebrated life-size triptych is what makes Bacon's art so remarkable,' said Francis Outred, the head of European postwar and contemporary art for Christie's.

'This suddenly becomes a very important conversation between two masters,' Outred said in an interview.



He noted that 'Three Studies of Lucian Freud' is one of only two existing full-length triptychs of Freud, a grandson of the founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, and that the three panels were separated for 15 years in the 1970s before being reunited.



Christie's also offering a Warhol 'Coca-Cola,' which carries an estimate of $40 million to $60 million, and a sculpture by Jeff Koons, 'Balloon Dog (Orange)' expected to fetch $35 million to $55 million.

