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November 22, 2008 6:20:35 AM CST

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Bacon Breaks Record as Art Market Sizzles

Posted May 15, 08 3:30 AM CDT in Business,  Arts & Living 

(Newser) – A 1976 triptych painting by Francis Bacon became the most expensive piece of contemporary art ever sold when it went for $86.2 million at auction last night, Reuters reports. Seventeen other artists also set records at the sale, boosting Sotheby's to the best night in its 300-year history and quashing predictions that the economic slowdown would douse the red-hot market for postwar art.

Source Reuters

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A Sotheby's employee is pictured in front Francis Bacon's "Triptych, 1976" which last night broke the record for the most expensive piece of contemporary art ever sold.   (Getty Images)
This undated photo released by Sotheby's shows Francis Bacon's masterpiece painting, "Triptych 1976" which sold for $86 million.   (AP Photo)
The late Robert Rauschenberg's 1963 "Overdrive" sold for just over $14.6 million last night, breaking auction records for work by the pop artist, said a spokesperson for Sotheby's.   (AP Photo)
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art • painting • art market • Sotheby's • art auction • Francis Bacon • Robert Rauschenberg


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