$27.7-M Bacon Portrait Tops NY Art Auction

A portrait by British painter Francis Bacon of his great love sold for $27.7 million at Sotheby's spring sales in New York, topping the first night of contemporary art auctions that grossed $234.6 million, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The work fell short of the $30 million to $50 million range the house had estimated for the portrait. I Photo: Sotheby's

The work fell short of the $30 million to $50 million range the house had estimated for the portrait—the first in a series of 10 the painter made of George Dyer between 1966 and 1968—which was making its debut at auction.

The highest price paid for a single-panel portrait by Bacon is $70.2 million, which came from the same Dyer cycle.

American painter Joan Mitchell, whose works have led a revaluation of paintings by women artists, was one of the stars of the evening.

Her work "Noon" exceeded $22.6 million, maintaining an upward trend that began last November, when two pieces by the "second generation" American abstract expressionism artist fetched over $20 million for the first time. Her record sale stands at $29.1 million.