Arts News
Bacon and Warhol contribute to record result at Sotheby's
By DPA
Feb 28, 2008, 19:59 GMT

London - A study of a nude by Anglo-Irish artist Francis Bacon and self-portraits by Andy Warhol were among top lots at a record-breaking contemporary art sale at Sotheby's in London Thursday.

The auction house recorded a sale total of 95 million pounds (189 million dollars), which represented the highest total for any Contemporary Art sale ever staged in Europe, a spokesman said.

Remarkable prices were seen across the board in Thursday evening's sale in which the top lot was Francis Bacon's masterpiece, Study of Nude with Figure in a Mirror, which sold for 19.9 million pounds to a European private collector.

This was followed by Andy Warhol's Three Self-Portraits which realised 11.4 million pounds and Lucio Fontana's Concetto Spaziale/ La Fine di Dio, which made 10.3 million pounds - a record for the artist at auction.

Sotheby's said four lots sold for over 5 million pounds at the auction and many others for over a million, underlining the belief held by analysts that the London art market remains buoyant despite the global credit crunch.