A prized 1963 Andy Warhol painting that captures the immediate aftermath of a car crash sold for USD 105 million at a New York City auction, shattering the record for the famed pop artist amid a spending frenzy at the high end of the art world.
The 8- by 13-foot (3.96-meter) painting titled "Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)" was sold yesterday and depicts a twisted body sprawled across a car's mangled interior. It has only been seen once in public in the past 26 years. The buyer wasn't immediately identified.
The previous Warhol auction record was set in 2007 when "Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I)" sold for USD 71.7 million.
Another iconic Warhol, "Coca-Cola (3)," sold for USD 57.2 million Tuesday at Christie's auction house, and his portrait of Elizabeth Taylor titled "Liz #1 (Early Colored Liz)" sold for USD 20 million yesterday.
A Willem de Kooning abstract painting in red, yellow and white called "Untitled V," not seen in public since 1980, sold for USD 24.8 million yesterday. The sale fell short of the record for the artist's works, set Tuesday at Christie's with the sale of his "Untitled VIII" from 1977.
None of yesterday's buyers were identified.
The Warhol record came just a day after the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction went for USD 142.4 million to conclude six minutes of feverish bidding at Christie's. The hefty price tag for a 1967 Francis Bacon triptych called "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" shattered the previous world record nearly USD 120 million paid for Edvard Munch's "The Scream" at a 2012 Sotheby's sale.
Christie's said the winning bid went to New York City's Acquavella Galleries. It is believed that the gallery was buying it for an unidentified client.
Over the past 10 days, auction houses around the world have presided over bids totalling nearly USD 2 billion for art and jewelry, Sotheby's said. Christie's said Tuesday's sale brought in more than USD 691.5 million, the highest total for any single auction in history.
Buyers from Asia, the Middle East and Russia play a big role in the contemporary art market, said Richard Feigen, an art dealer and collector whose Manhattan gallery has works spanning from the 14th century to contemporary art.
