On November 12, the triptych Three Studies of Lucian Freud by Francis Bacon was auctioned off for $142.4 million in New York.
“Never has a painting reached such a sum at an auction. And this is almost a bagatelle compared with private sales. A version of Paul Cézanne’s Card Players was bought by the ruling family of Qatar in February for almost twice that amount, just under 250 million.
“The world of luxury is doing well. For two days, Geneva has been in the grips of a veritable buying frenzy, and has been auctioning off gigantic gems: enormous pink- and orange-coloured diamonds. At the same time, social discontent has been growing in France, on the streets and among the farmers of Brittany. We obviously don’t all live on the same planet.”
Source: L’ Est Républicain, November 14
