Martin Kippenberger's Untitled has set a new world record for the artist at Christie's Post-War & Contemporary Art auction on October 11.
Taken from his Hand-Painted Pictures series, the 1992 work sold for £3.2m ($5.1m), comfortably within its estimate.
 Martin Kippenberger’s Untitled sold for £3.1m |
The result marks a 24% improvement on the previous world record, set by his Fliegender Tanga (Flying Tanga) at Christie's in 2010, which made £2.6m ($4m).
It is the latest confirmation of the growing demand for works by the provocative German artist, who died from cancer in 1997 at the age of 43.
Further highlights of the auction were offered by Miquel Barcelo's Areneros y muleros, which sold within estimate for £2.1m ($3.3m), and Gerhard Richter's 5 Turen II (5 Doors II), which beat its £2m estimate with a £2.2m ($3.5m) performance. Richter enthusiasts will have a further opportunity to own his work when one of his Abstraktes Bild paintings auctions on October 19 at Sotheby's.
Christie's Italian Sale also witnessed strong results yesterday, with Piero Manzoni's Achrome providing the highlight, selling for £2.6m ($3.7m), just above its £2.5m high estimate.
Francis Outred, the head of post-war and contemporary art at Christie's Europe, commenting on both auctions, said: "Nine world artist records were set overall.
"We saw 43 different buyers for 45 works of art in the Post-War and Contemporary Art auction, reflecting the continuing attraction and depth of interest in post-war and contemporary art".
84% of the world's top 200 spenders on art collect contemporary works, a recent Artnews 200 report revealed.
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