Freud, Bacon Masterpieces Went to Russian Billionaire

By ARTINFO

Published: May 19, 2008

Lucian Freud Francis Bacon Jeff Koons Tyeb Mehta Hog Wild Pinchuk Plans Palatial Arts Center for Kiev The Appendix: Fake Madoff Auctions; U.K. Culture War; The Cost of Keeping a Koons Celebration or Send-Up?

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NEW YORK—Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich is the buyer behind two skyhigh sales at last week's contemporary auctions in New York, reports the Art Newspaper: Francis Bacon's Triptych, 1976, for $86.3 million at Sotheby's and Lucian Freud's Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, 1995, for $33.6 million at Christie's.

Both works broke auction records, the Bacon fetching the highest price ever paid for a postwar work at auction and Freud becoming the most expensive living artist, beating out Jeff Koons.

Abramovich, whose fortune is estimated to be well into the billions, is not known to have purchased work at this level before. Last week it was reported that his girlfriend, Dasha Zhukova, is opening a new contemporary art space in Moscow, with his financial support.

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