Bacon Triptych sold at Sotheby’s for $ 21.5 million

A self-portrait of the triptych of Anglo-Irish artist Francis Bacon was sold for 13.7 million pounds (21.5 million US dollars, 15.9 million euros) at Sotheby’s contemporary art auction in London on Tuesday.

“Three studies for a self-portrait” (Three Studies for a Self-Portrait) were bought by a German collector, Jürgen Hall, who represented the interests of a “major international institution” at an auction, the auction house said in an official statement.

Performed in 1980, when the artist was already 71 years old, the painting is one of Bacon’s 11 famous self-portraits (1909-1992). The work of the artist became the most attractive lot of this auction. Its estimated cost was estimated by Sotheby’s specialists, from 10 to 15 million pounds.

During the auction, two works by the now-living German artist Gerhard Richter, “Abstraktes Bild (769-1)”, created in 1992 and “Wolke” (1976), were also sold. The paintings were purchased for 8.1 million pounds (12.7 million dollars, 9.4 million euros) and 7.6 million pounds (11.8 million dollars, 8.8 million euros), respectively. In general, during the last auction devoted to post-war and contemporary art, Sotheby gained 74.3 million pounds (116.3 million dollars, 86.3 million euros).

Anna Sidorova