A painting by British artist David Hockney has sold for more than $90million (more than R1.2billion) - a world record price for a work by a living artist. Portrait of an Artist - Pool with Two Figures was sold by Christie’s in New York last week for $90312500 - in under 10 minutes.
Bidding on the 1972 painting opened at $18m and quickly surpassed the previous record held by Balloon Dog - Orange, a work by Jeff Koons that sold for $58m in 2013.
Described by Christie’s as a “masterpiece”, Hockney’s painting features the artist, swimming, watched by Peter Schlesinger, who was one of Hockney’s great loves.
The sale has put Hockney into the history books, but he ironically earned comparatively little from the work.
Back in 1972, his New York dealer sold it for just $18000.
The painting was recently put on auction by Joe Lewis, the Bahamas-based billionaire art collector and owner of England’s Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.