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Francis Bacon Artwork Sets Auction Record

Christie's Contemporary Art Sale
'Three Studies of Lucien Freud' at Christie's Contemporary Art Sale (credit: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

 

(KPIX 5/AP) - A 1969 painting by Francis Bacon has sold for over $142 million in New York, a record for most expensive artwork ever sold at auction.

"Three Studies of Lucian Freud" was sold at Christie's postwar and contemporary art sale on Tuesday night. The work depicts Bacon's artist friend.


 

The price tops the nearly $120 million paid for Edvard Munch's "The Scream," which set a world record when it was sold at a Sotheby's 2012.

The previous record for Bacon's artwork sold at auction was his 1976 "Triptych." That sold for $86 million in 2008.

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