Saturday, October 13, 2012

$34M at auction for abstract painting by German artist Gerhard Richter

Eric Clapton sold an abstract painting by the German artist Gehrard Richter for £21 million, or $34 million, at a Sotheby's auction in London on Friday, reports the BBC, helping to set a record for the highest-selling work by a living artist.

The painting, entitled "Abstraktes Bild (809-4)," was initially projected to fetch up to $19 million.

Clapton bought "Abstraktes Bild (809-4)" in 2001 for $3.4 million. It's one of a series of four paintings by Richter from the mid-1990s. Three were sold to Clapton in 2001, while the fourth is owned by the joint collection of the Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland.

Richter has become one of the most coveted living artists, with one of his paintings selling for $21.8 million at a New York auction earlier this year.

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