Record-breaking auctions for works of Picasso, Giacometti

Picasso painting sells for $179M; Giacometti sculpture $141M

A painting by Pablo Picasso and a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti are the two priciest piecs of painting and sculpting ever sold at an auction.

The Pablo Picasso painting “Women of Algiers”, painted in 1955, reached the record-breaking price of 179.3 million USD in just 11 minutes of bidding. The auction took place at Christie’s auction house and surpassed the previous record-holder, Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies of Lucian Freud”, which had sold for 142.4 million USD in 2013.

“Pointing Man”, a five-foot bronze figure with extended arms broke its own record, reaching 141.28 million USD in only three minutes, breaking the “Walking Man”‘s record (also created by Giacometti), which had been sold for 103.93 million USD in 2010, at Sotheby’s in London.