Hockney painting sells for record amount at auction
November 16, 2018
David Hockney's "Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)" sold for a record amount in New York City on Thursday, breaking the record for the highest price at auction for a work by a living artist.
The painting fetched $90.3 million (€79.7 million), surpassing auction house Christie's pre-sale estimate of around $80 million.
The previous record for a work sold by a living artist was held by Jeff Koons, whose sculpture "Balloon Dog" sold for $58.4 million at auction in 2013.
The Hockney piece was described as "the holy grail of his paintings, from both the historical and the market perspectives," by Alex Rotter, co-chairman of post-war and contemporary art at Christie's before the auction.
The 81-year-old British artist painted the work in 1972 after being inspired by the two photographs he found juxtaposed on his studio floor. It depicts a man in a pink jacket looking down at another figure swimming underwater in a swimming pool.
Hockney studied at the Royal College of Art before moving to California in the 1960s. He currently splits his time between the UK and the United States.
A retrospective of Hockney's art went on display last year at the Tate Britain, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
rs/msh (AP, dpa, Reuters)