NEW YORK, (Reuters) – A Picasso oil painting from 1955 smashed the record for the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction when it soared to $179.4 million at Christie’s yesterday.
The auction house had estimated “Les femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’)” would sell for about $140 million, but several bidders competing via telephone drove the winning bid to $160 million, for a final price of $179,365,000 including Christie’s commission of just over 12 percent.
The buyer was not identified.
Giacometti’s 1947 sculpture, “L’homme au doigt” (Pointing man), set a new world record for sculpture, selling for $141.3 million, in line with the pre-sale estimate of about $130 million. The old sculpture record was $104.3 million, held by Giacometti’s “L’Homme qui marche I” since 2010.
