A Francis Bacon triptych depicting his close friend Henrietta Moraes has sold for £24.3 million at Sotheby's in London. It was the highest price paid at an auction in Frieze Week, the annual international art event, in the last 10 years.
The paintings, titled Three Studies for Portrait of Henrietta Moraes, come from the collection of American media executive William S Paley. Moraes was a colourful figure at the heart of Soho's artistic life in the post-war era and acted as a muse for both Bacon and Lucian Freud.
Mr Paley, the president of CBS, acquired the work from Marlborough Gallery months after it was finished in 1963. It has been under the stewardship of the Museum of Modern Art (Moma) in New York since he died in 1990.
Last night (Friday, October 14), the triptych made its auction debut at Sotheby’s in London during a contemporary evening sale, which totalled £96.1 million. It was the highest total for a Frieze Week evening sale at Sotheby’s since 2015.
Bacon, known for his bold and shocking figurative style, died aged 82 in 1992. His work focused on the human form in an often brutal manner and included a number of triptychs, religious images of crucifixions and popes, and self-portraits.
Sotheby’s said proceeds from the sale will support various charitable organisations, including The Paley Museum, the Greenpark Foundation, and a new endowment at the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). Further works will be sold at Sotheby’s to benefit charitable causes today (Saturday).
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