HOWZAT

“It showed Bacon working in a new way. It is a watershed painting which sees him moving beyond personal grief on to a more universal scale.

“Bacon was heavily influenced by Greek tragedies where personal stories relate to grander, universal issues.

“He saw the large format triptych as the greatest vehicle for artistic vision and this work sees Bacon achieve a new level of complexity.”

In it he drew in particular on the Greek myth of Prometheus, the titan who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mankind. As a punishment he was chained to a rock for a vulture to devour his liver for eternity.

The work is also a modern day interpretation of Aeschylus’ trilogy The Orestia. To avenge the death of his father at the hands of his mother, Orestes commits matricide and is plagued by the three Furies, the manifestation of guilt.

The human form in the central panel of Bacon’s work is plagued by three hybrid biomorphic vultures, symbolic of Bacon’s inner demons.

Sotheby’s said that last night’s sale, which totalled 362 million dollars (£181m), was the best in its history, further evidence that the bleak world economic outlook has yet to impinge on the top end of the art market.

According to Robin Duthy's Art Market Research, contemporary art has risen 700 per cent in value since 1985. The growth has become turbo-charged recently, with Hiscox, the insurer, estimating that contemporary art at auction increased in price by 55 per cent last year.

ART RECORDS

The top-selling living artists:

1 Lucian Freud (born 1922) Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, sold for $33,641,000 (Pounds 17,251,795) yesterday

2 Jeff Koons (born 1955) Hanging heart (Magenta/Gold), sold for $23,561,000 in November 2007

3 Damien Hirst (born 1965) Lullaby Spring, sold for Pounds 9,652,000 in June 2007

4 Jasper Johns (born 1930) Figure 4, sold for $17,400,000 in May 2007

5 Gerhard Richter (born 1932) Kerze (Candle), sold for Pounds 7,972,500 in February 2008

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