Francis Bacon triptych sells for record-making $142m

Francis Bacon’s three-panelled painting “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” has become the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction where it was bought for $142.4m (€105.9m) on November 12. The 1969 triptych, never before offered at auction carried a pre-sale estimate of about $85m (€63m) at the Christie’s auction in New York. The hammer came down at $127m, with the buyer’s premium making up the remainder of the price. Credit: Christie’s