Mega art dealer William Acquavella brokered the record-breaking deal that sold Francis Bacon’s triptych of Lucien Freud for $142.4 million after nearly 10 minutes of intense bidding.
The Upper East Side Acquavella Galleries acquired “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” on behalf of an anonymous client.
“[The artwork] inspired a six- to 10-minute bidding war and saw multiple bidders bring it up to and over the $100 million mark,” Christie’s spokeswoman Capucine Milliot told The Post.
“The crowd burst into applause when the hammer came down at $142,405,000, a world auction record for any work of art ever sold at auction.”
Fees to transport the six-foot-high masterpieces to another part of town could run higher than $3,500.
The paintings are sealed in glassine and packed carefully in three wooden crates, according to Micah Lang, an art-storage expert who has worked with Christie’s in the past.
“It requires a climate-controlled vehicle,” Lang said. “It looks like any other truck except it has an air-conditioner in the back so the temperature doesn’t change.”
Insurance for the artwork would likely cost $71,000 to $142,000 per year.