SOTHEBY’S FIRST EVENING SALE OF CONTEMPORARY ART IN PARIS REALISES €23.1 MILLION Tonight at Sotheby’s France, Francis Bacon’s Seated Woman (Portrait of Muriel Belcher) sold for €13,696,250 ($20,046,242), the highest price ever paid for a work of Contemporary Art in France.
Audrey Irmas, said after tonight’s sale: “We are thrilled beyond words by the result achieved for Seated Woman, which has been a prized part of our collection for a number of years. The proceeds from the sale of the painting will be donated to the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Family Foundation and will be used particularly to address women’s causes around the world. In the first year alone, we intend to donate $300,000 each to women’s programmes in Darfur, New Orleans and South Central Los Angeles.”
The sale continues tomorrow, and will be followed by a sale of Impressionist, Modern and Surrealist Art, which will conclude Sotheby’s Paris Week.
