I'll take two

11 minutes of madness: Sale of Picasso painting sets world record

It took eleven minutes before a winner emerged.

Christie's / YouTube

A PICASSO PAINTING has broken the record for the most expensive painting to sell at auction.

The painting, Women of Algiers, went for $160m. The final price, including the premium of auction house Christie’s, was $179.3m (€160m).

Christies Spring Art Auction AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

Eleven minutes of bidding from telephone buyers set the price rocketing from its pre-sale estimate of $140 million.

Pablo Picasso’s Les Femmes d’Alger (Version ‘O’) realized $179,365,000, a #worldauctionrecord for any work of art ever sold at auction
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) May 11, 2015

Christie's / Twitter

The previous world record was $142.4m for Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud. It was also sold in Christie’s in 2013.

Christies Spring Art Auction AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

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Cliodhna Russell

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