Record contemporary sale at Sotheby's

DESPITE, or perhaps because of the international economic nervousness relating to the crisis in Greece, huge sums of money were spent on art this week.

On Wednesday night, Sotheby’s sale raised £108 million (€119 million) – the highest total ever achieved for any sale of contemporary art in London.

Buyers from 14 countries participated and 29 works sold for over £1 million (€1.1 million).

A 1961 painting by Irish-born artist Francis Bacon (who died in 1992) titled Crouching Nudemade £8.3 million (€9.1 million); Die Grosse Nacht im Eimer(the Big Night Down the Drain), a painting by German artist Georg Baselitz "inspired" by the image of Brendan Behan reading his poetry drunk on stage with his trouser flies open, made £2.4 million (€2.6 million). Andy Warhol's portrait of Debbie Harry from the pop group Blondie, sold for £3.7 million (€4 million).

The previous day, Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art evening auction in London realised £78 million (€86 million) with 19 lots selling for over £1 million (€1.1 million). Buyers came from: Europe, including the UK, (59 per cent), the Americas (26 per cent) and Asia (15 per cent). Francis Bacon's Study For A Portrait, 195 sold for £18 million (€19.9 million). The painting was once owned by Irish artist Louis le Brocquy who sold it during the 1980s. A portrait of Chinese tyrant Mao, 1973, by Andy Warhol sold for £6.9 million (€7.6 million). – MP