Whether the artists are dead or alive, auction prices for major contemporary works continue to escalate. Francis Bacon’s triptych Three Studies of Lucian Freud,1969, has become the most expensive auctioned artwork – besting the previous record holder, Edvard Munch’s The Scream – selling for $142.4 million at Christie’s New York last night, Bloomberg reports.
At the same auction Jeff Koons’s sculpture Balloon Dog (Orange), 1994-2000, topped the auction record for a living artist, exceeding estimates to sell for $58.4 million. Andy Warhol’s Coca-Cola bottle painting from1962 sold for $57.3 million.
