Henry Moore's Reclining Figure has set a new record for the artist at auction.
It proved the star lot of the Defining British Art sale in London on June 30, achieving £24.7m ($33.1m).
 Moore created the sculpture for the 1951 Festival of Britain |
Moore created the sculpture for the 1951 Festival of Britain. It stood in the centre of the event and symbolised survival in the aftermath of the second world war.
While more conservative critics were unimpressed, most considered it a towering achievement.
It undoubtedly remains Moore's most famous work.
His previous record was £19m ($25.2m), set by another version of the work in a 2012 auction.
The auction house explains: "Moore himself claimed that Reclining Figure: Festival is, the 'first sculpture in which I succeeded in making form and space sculpturally inseparable' and singled it out as one of the most important sculptures of his entire oeuvre."
Why not take a look at our signed photograph of Henry Moore in our online store?
Francis Bacon's unsettling Version No 2. of Lying Figure with Hypodermic Syringe realised £20.4m ($27.1m).
The painting dates to his most celebrated creative period (the late 1960s).
It was last sold for $15m in 2006, meaning it has grown 6% per annum in value in the intervening years.
Please sign up to our free newsletter to receive exciting news about art and photography auctions.
