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David Hockney painting smashes record for living artist as artwork fetches $90 million at auction

David Hockneys
David Hockneys

A David Hockney painting has been sold for $90 million (£70 million), smashing the auction record for a living artist.

Hockney's 1972 work Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) went under the hammer at Christie's in New York on Thursday.

It emphatically surpassed the previous record for a work by a living artist, which was held by American Jeff Koons and one of his Balloon Dog sculptures which sold for $58.4 million (£45.6 million) in 2013.

Portrait of an Artist was sold to an unknown buyer and the identity of the seller is also unconfirmed.

British artist Hockney, 81, was inspired to paint the picture by two photographs he found on his studio floor, one of a swimmer in Hollywood in 1966 and another of a boy staring at an item on the ground.

The painting shows two men, one doing the breaststroke under water while the other watches from the side of the pool.

The auctioneer takes bids for the sale of David Hockney's Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) during the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale - Credit: AFP
The auctioneer takes bids for the sale of David Hockney's Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) during the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening SaleCredit: AFP

The standing figure is said to represent Hockney's former partner Peter Schlesinger, whom the British artist met in 1966 while teaching art classes in California.

Hockney had already begun the painting when they split up in 1971. After a break, he resumed the piece the following year.

Alex Rotter, co-chairman of post-war and contemporary art at Christie's in New York, told the Associated Press in September that it is "the holy grail" of Hockney's work.

He said: "It has all the elements that you would want in a Hockney painting.

"The California landscape, the beautiful trees and flowers and the sky, and then what we know him most for, which is the pool."

The sale come six months after his  “Pacific Coast Highway and Santa Monica sold for $28.5 million.

The painting drew a huge amount of interest during the presale viewing in Christie’s Rockefeller Centre. “I’m only here for this,” Post Villafane, 32, a young collector from Queens, told the New York Times on Wednesday.

“The colours are so realistic,” he said. “They blend so well. Look how the paint shimmers. It’s beautiful.”