| Alberto Giacometti's Walking Man I Sells for a Record-Breaking $104,327,006 at Sotheby's | ||
 Auctioneer Henry Wyndam sells the sculpture 'Walking Man I' or 'L'Homme qui marche I', by Alberto Giacometti, at Sotheby's auction rooms in London, Wednesday Feb. 3, 2010. The life-size bronze sculpture of a man by Alberto Giacometti was sold at the London auction for 65 million pounds (US$104 million). Sotheby's says the sale set a world record for the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction. The auction house said Wednesday it took just eight minutes for bidders to reach the hammer price for the item. AP Photo / Anthony Devlin. LONDON.- Today at Sotheby’s, Alberto Giacometti’s L’homme qui marche I sold for £65,001,250 / $104,327,006 becoming the most expensive art work ever sold at auction. The bronze sculpture exceeded the previous record of $104.1 million (£58,052,830) also set at Sotheby’s in May 2004 by Pablo Picasso’s Garçon à la Pipe. The expectant saleroom fell quiet as bidding opened at £12 million. Some eight minutes later, after a fast and furious bidding battle between at least ten prospective purchasers, this spectacular piece - the only life-time cast of this iconic subject ever to have come to auction - sold to an anonymous telephone bidder, establishing a new record price not only for the artist, and for any piece of sculpture ever sold at auction but also, and more importantly, taking its place in history as the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction. Formerly part of the corporate collection of Dresdner Bank AG, the sculpture came into the posses ... More |
