Why someone would pay $142 million for one painting

Francis Bacon's "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" sold for a record sum. It probably won't hold its title for long.

Bacon
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Christie's Images LTD. 2013))

On Tuesday night, Francis Bacon's "Three Studies of Lucian Freud" sold at Christie's for $142.4 million, making it the most expensive painting ever sold at auction.

While that price tag might be unfathomable to nearly everyone, wildly expensive, record-breaking works of art have become a trend in recent years. Bacon's masterpiece dethroned Edvard Munch's "The Scream," which sold just last year at Sotheby's for $119.9 million. Both pale in comparison to the $250 million supposedly spent by Qatar's royal family for Paul Cézanne's "The Card Players" in 2011.

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Keith Wagstaff is a staff writer at TheWeek.com covering politics and current events. He has previously written for such publications as TIME, Details, VICE, and the Village Voice.