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Francis Bacon leads February’s art market

Francis Bacon - Portrait of Henrietta Moraes

Francis Bacon (1909-1992)
Portrait of Henrietta Moraes
oil on canvas 65 x 56in. (165 x 142cm.)
Painted in 1963
Sold for £21,321,250 ($33,474,363 /€ 25,436,251) at Christie’s

Francis Bacon leads February’s art market Bacon’s ‘Portrait of Henrietta Moraes’ sells for £21,3 million at Christie’s on February 14 2012, and his ‘Study from the Human Body. Figure in movement’ is the most valuable artwork at ARCO Madrid 2012.]]>

February 18, 2012, source: Christie’s / ARCO / theartwolf

The “Portrait of Henrietta Moraes” sold by Christie’s was painted by Francis Bacon towards the end of 1963, the year after his breakthrough retrospective at the Tate Gallery, London in 1962, and the same year as his first major American exhibition at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. For many years, the work formed part of the Schniewind collection of important post-War paintings.

“Portrait of Henrietta Moraes” represents part of the pantheon of great paintings by Bacon executed in 1963, the majority of which are now housed in major international museum collections. The work is now the 2nd most valuable work of Post-War & Contemporary Art auctioned at Christie’s London and the highest price achieved in the category in London since February 2008.

In addition to this important sale at Christie’s, Francis Bacon is also one of the protagonists in ARCO, the international contemporary art fair in Madrid, Spain. His “Study from the Human Body. Figure in movement” (1982) is being offered by Marlborough Gallery for an asking price of $15 million.

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Triptych 1974-77 by Francis Bacon (1909-1992) sold for £26.3 million – $51.7 million/€35.2 million (February 28)

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Francis Bacon leads February's art market