Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, stars of the contemporary art sales in London

Like last year, the art market’s leading auction houses, Christie’s and Sotheby’s, counted on Francis BACON and Lucian FREUD to underpin the success of their contemporary art sales in London.

Collectors renewed their attachment to the artists from the London School with some outstanding bidding which resulted in a new record for Francis Bacon. His 2 metre-high painting, “Portrait of George Dyer staring into a Mirror” (1967), fetched GBP 4.9 million (including fees) with a pre-sale estimate range of GBP 2.5 – 3.5 million. Between January 1997 and June 2005, Francis Bacon’s price index rose 175% and of which +60% in the past 12 months.

Although still considered excellent, Lucian Freud’s results were not as strong as last February when the artist broke a record with a hammer price of GBP 3.5 million (excluding fees) (USD 6.5 million) for his imposing painting “Red haired Man on a Chair” (1962-63) that had a pre-sale estimate range of GBP 1.2 – 1.8 million. Last Thursday, “Bella” (1982-83), a portrait of the artist’s daughter, estimated at GBP 1.8 – 2.2 million sold for only GBP 1.8 million. The following day at Sotheby’s, an auto portrait entitled “Man with a feather” went under the hammer at GBP 3.7 million (including fees) matching the high estimations.

Finally, Christie’s sale generated GBP 24.5 million with records for Francis Bacon, Georg Baselitz, Eduardo Chillida, Thomas Hirschorn, Gabriel Orozco, Alighiero Boetti, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Rosemarie Trockel and Doris Salcedo. By comparison, Sotheby’s sale generated GBP 19.3 million with fewer exceptional hammer prices.