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“Francis Bacon Portrait of Lucian Freud to Set Record at Christie’s Auction”

“Francis Bacon Portrait of Lucian Freud to Set Record at Christie’s Auction”

via Global News

Bacon Painting

“LONDON – A painting that brings together two of Britain’s greatest artists could become one of the most expensive modern artworks ever sold when it is auctioned in New York next month.  Christie’s auction house says Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” could sell for as much as $100 million. . . . “ Read the rest of this article here.

Cultured Muse’s Input

Apparently the last painting of Bacon’s that sold went for $86 million, but this is expected to bring in far more.  This particular work is actually a portrait of the same man (Lucian Freud–A German/British painter living in early 1900s) in three different poses.  Bacon and Freud were both friends and rivals in the art world, and Bacon painted several works depicting Freud (1, 2) In fact, in Bacon’s “Self Portrait,” he actually painted (more…)

“China’s Broken Art Market”

“China’s Broken Art Market”

by Felix Salmon via “Reuters

“When 2011 came to an end, the dominance of Chinese artists in the international league tables was clear, if puzzling. Three of the top five artists, in terms of sales, and both of the top two, were Chinese; Zhang Daqian alone managed to gross more than half a billion dollars at auction that year, the first time any artist had come anywhere near that level.

But no one knew what was really going on. One theory — which the peddlers of  . . . “