A Francis Bacon Triptych Sells for $85 Million

Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus, the sixth of 28 monumental triptychs produced by Francis Bacon between 1962 and 1991, sold for an astounding $84.6 million at Sotheby's first hybrid auction where all sales were conducted without an audience.

This triptych has now become the artist's third most expensive work following Three Studies of Lucian Freud, which sold for $142.4 million at Christie's in 2013 and Triptych, which sold at Sotheby's for $86.2 million in 2008.

Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus (1981) consists of three panels measuring 6.5 x 5 feet, and the title refers to the trilogy of tragedies written by the Greek playwright Aeschylus in the fifth century BC. In the Oresteia, Agamemnon, king of the Mycenae, is killed by his wife, Clytemnestra, upon his return from fighting in the Trojan War, so she can take his crown. Clytemnestra is then murdered by her son, Orestes, as commanded by Apollo, the Greek god of the sun. The Furies, goddesses of revenge, drive Orestes from the kingdom and he is put on trial for the murder of his mother by Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom. She determines that he will not be killed, but that every crime for then on must be settled in court, setting the foundation for modern day cases of law and justice.

Here, Bacon revisits the themes of divine judgment and morality he first developed in his 1944 work, Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, which established its reputation internationally and now resides at Tate Britain.

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“Francis Bacon is the great tragedian of his age," commented Alex Branczik, Head of Contemporary Art for Sotheby’s Europe. "In this ambitious triptych, the painter confronts Aeschylus, the progenitor of tragedy, so that the timeless power of the Ancient Greek genre is brought to bear on the human condition in the 20th century. The result is an arresting and original vision, a true masterpiece that confirms Bacon’s standing in the pantheon of modern masters."

The work has been exhibited in almost every Francis Bacon retrospective in the world's most prestigious museums, including the Tate, MoMA, the Met, and the Centre Pompidou.

See also: The 12 Most Expensive Paintings Ever Auctioned

The work was purchased in 1987 by the Norwegian collector Hans Rasmus Astrup at Marlborough International Fine Art. It has been held by Astrup's private museum, the Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo. In 2013, Astrup donated his commercial assets and works to his eponymous charity, the Hans Rasmus Astrup Foundation, and the profits from this sale will be donated to diversify the museum's collection.

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