NEW RECORDS FOR GERHARD RICHTER, BAGS $46.3 MILLION AT SOTHEBY'S LONDON AUCTION

Gerhard Richter abstract painting—the 1986 Abstraktes Bild—sold for about
$46.3 million, beating a high estimate of $30 million

Paintings by Gerhard Richter and Francis Bacon helped Sotheby’s reach 123.5 million pounds ($188.5 million), the company’s highest tally at a contemporary art sale in Europe.

According to The New York Times, Sotheby’s Tuesday evening auction of seventy-five contemporary works brought in over $ 180 million where Gerhard Richter’s abstract canvas fetched $46.4 million. The highest bid work of Gerhard Richter’s was the 1986 Abstraktes Bild.

The monumental, 10-foot high canvas, “Abstraktes Bild,” numbered 599 and painted with veils of red, blue and green pigment, was bought by a telephone bidder, represented by Cheyenne Westphal, Sotheby’s worldwide co-head of contemporary art, after lengthy competition from another telephone bidder.