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15/05/2008
Irish Masterpiece Sells For €43M
A masterpiece by Irish artist Francis Bacon has broken all his previous records, selling at €53.9 million.
The work by Francis Bacon, a Triptych, is a three-panelled picture depicting a headless human form surrounded by three vultures and flanked by two portraits of disfigured human faces.
A Triptych is a three panelled work, often hinged and able to close into itself concealing the images within.
The Moeuix family, producers of Château Petrus wines sold the work, which consists of three panels measuring 6.5 feet by 5 feet each. They have owned the piece since it was first exhibited in Paris in 1977.
The sale of the 1976 Triptych eclipsed the previous record set in 1962 by the €34 million paid for 'Study For Innocent X'.
Triptych is said to be heavily influenced by Greek mythology, depicting the Promethean headless body being attacked by a bird of prey in the central image, flanked by two grotesques on either side.
The painting is also said to be a reference to the suicide of his 39 year-old lover, George Dyer, whom Bacon met, it is claimed, while the former was burgling his apartment.
Hailing the painting as "a landmark of the 20th-century canon," Sotheby’s had estimated it would sell for €4.5million less than the final hammer price.
(DW)
The work by Francis Bacon, a Triptych, is a three-panelled picture depicting a headless human form surrounded by three vultures and flanked by two portraits of disfigured human faces.
A Triptych is a three panelled work, often hinged and able to close into itself concealing the images within.
The Moeuix family, producers of Château Petrus wines sold the work, which consists of three panels measuring 6.5 feet by 5 feet each. They have owned the piece since it was first exhibited in Paris in 1977.
The sale of the 1976 Triptych eclipsed the previous record set in 1962 by the €34 million paid for 'Study For Innocent X'.
Triptych is said to be heavily influenced by Greek mythology, depicting the Promethean headless body being attacked by a bird of prey in the central image, flanked by two grotesques on either side.
The painting is also said to be a reference to the suicide of his 39 year-old lover, George Dyer, whom Bacon met, it is claimed, while the former was burgling his apartment.
Hailing the painting as "a landmark of the 20th-century canon," Sotheby’s had estimated it would sell for €4.5million less than the final hammer price.
(DW)
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