The results of Sotheby's on Feb. 3, 2010. New absolute record

[ABC]

"Walking Man" set an absolute record at auction

A sculpture of Alberto Giacometti, Swiss master "Walking man" ( "L'homme qui marche") was sold at Sotheby's auction for a record sum of 65 million pounds (104.3 million dollars). This February 3 reported Agence France-Presse.

Initially, organizers of the auction lot assessed at 18 million pounds (28.6 million), but the buyer, whose name was not released, bought the sculpture on the phone for an amount more than three times higher than initial expectations.

Thus, today set a new record for the value of art sold at auction. Previously the most expensive lot was considered a painting by Pablo Picasso's "Boy with a Pipe" sold in 2004 in New York, for 104.2 million dollars.

The sculpture "Walking Man" was created in 1961, she became one of the major works by Giacometti - its height is 183 centimeters.

The previous record for an auction of works by Giacometti - 27, $ 4 million. This amount was generated in 2008 for the sculpture "Large woman standing" (Grande femme debout).

In addition, on February 3, at Sotheby's has been set yet another world record. The most expensive in the history of landscape painting became the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt's "The Church in Cassone", sold for 26.9 million pounds (43 million).

Another top lot of the auction was considered a sheet of French painter Paul Cezanne's "Pitcher and Fruits on the table", which sold for 11.8 million pounds (18.7 million dollars). "Reclining woman" by the French artist Henri Matisse, went under the hammer for 4.4 million pounds (6.9 million).

At the auction was also presented the work of Natalia Goncharova "Senokos. Organizers hoped to rescue the bidding for this picture up to 800 thousand pounds, but in the end it was sold for 1.1 million pounds (1.7 million).