In a record-breaking sale, Francis Bacon’s iconic painting dating back to 1969 realized a whopping $142 million, thus rewriting the record books for the most expensive work of art offered on auction across the world. It was Bacon’s “Three Studies of Lucian Freud”, which netted USD 142,405,000 at Christie’s in New York on Tuesday night, that surpassed all sales at an auction. The proceeds received from the sale of “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” also betters the $119.9 million got from Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” which created a world record in 2012 at Sotheby’s.

Three Studies of Lucian Freud

The painting – a masterpiece that depicted the strong bonds of affinity between Bacon and Freud through the 1970s – is a triptych that formed part of the postwar and contemporary art sale that registered a total sale of $691.5 million, which is again a record for the highest for any auction sale in the history of art market.

It’s the terrific speed at which the sales took place at Christie’s that has left many eyebrows raised. It’s incredible that in a matter of only six minutes bids touched $142 million for Bacon’s triptych. There were 10 other artists whose works witnessed record sales during the auction. The pace of auctioning is likely to gain further momentum on Wednesday night when Andy Warhol’s double-panel painting is expected to be offered on sale at Sotheby’s. The pop artist can look forward to setting a new world record when “Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)” goes to fetch $80 million.

Popular artists whose works attracted impressive bidding include Donald Judd, Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock, Christopher Wool, Lucio Fontana, Mark Rothko, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. In fact, “Ballon Dog” from Jeff Koons, realized $58.4 million, which set a new record for sale of art sold by a living artist.

According to Michael Frahm, co-owner of London-based Frahm Ltd., works by historical important artists always met with good demand, leading to setting of new records. “The demand for seminal works by historical important artists is truly unquestionable and we will keep witnessing new records being broken”, he said, adding “this is the ultimate trophy hunting.”

Trophy Hunting

Among art works that met with good demand from bidders include De Kooning’s 1977 “Untitled VIII”, which fetched more than $32 million, thereby creating a new world record sale for Kooning’s paintings.

Commenting on the incredible auction sale at Christie’s, owner of Richard L. Feigen & Co., Richard Feigen said the record sales gave ample proof of the massive amount of liquidity prevailing in the world economy. “This is simply another proof of the huge amount of liquidity pumped into the world economy. Noting that the low interest rate was one main reason for bringing money to art markets, he said: “The money has nowhere to go. The interest rates are so low that it gets laundered through the real estate, and to a lesser degree, art markets.”

“Liz #1 (Early Colored Liz)”, a beautiful portrayal of Elizabeth Taylor, is among other iconic Warhols that is expected to net up to $30 million at Sotheby’s, which also has “Untitled V”, a popular work by De Kooning, that’s likely to fetch anywhere in the range of $30 million to $35 million.