Posted by Leonard Steinberg on November 13th, 2013

While real estate pricing continues to set new records weekly, the art world is mirroring the phenomenon we call LUXOFLATION, the significantly elevated levels of inflation that we are seeing on luxury products from collector cars, to art, to Manhattan apartments.  Last night a work by the late British painter Francis Bacon set a new word record for the most expensive auctioned painting ever, when it sold at Christie’s Auction House in Manhattan for $142.4 million.

The artist’s 1969 triptych “Three Studies of Lucien Freud” reached the record-breaking price after 6 minutes of multiple bidding at the Post War and Contemporary Art Sale. The sale shattered the old record of $119 million, which was set by Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” which sold at Sotheby’s last year…..implying an almost 20% escalation in one year for the most expensive artwork sold at auction. (Also note that over $1 million in sales taxes were also paid!)

This purchase helps explain who would pay $100 million for an apartment:  for someone who can pay $142 million for an artwork, $100 million for a home is very palatable.