An art collection featuring works owned by the late German billionaire playboy Gunter Sachs has fetched more than £35m at auction in London.
The top lot was one of Andy Warhol's last self-portraits, which sold at Sotheby's for just over £5m.
Sachs was married to actress Brigitte Bardot for three years and some works reflected his obsession with the star.
A Warhol portrait of her, commissioned by Sachs five years after the couple divorced, sold for just over £3m.
Record prices were achieved for other Warhol works, including The Kiss (Bela Lugosi).
Following heated bidding, a complete set of Allen Jones' rare Pop Art mannequin 1969 furniture also achieved record prices.
Sachs and Bardot married in Las Vegas in 1966, a few weeks after they first met.
Hours after meeting her, the billionaire arranged for a helicopter to fly over her house in southern France and drop hundreds of red roses.
In 1972 Sachs put on Warhol's first major European exhibition at his Hamburg gallery.
When there were few buyers, he spared the American's blushes by secretly purchasing half the works himself.
Sachs took his life at his Swiss chalet a year ago, explaining in a suicide note it was due to "no hope illness A" - believed to be a reference to be Alzheimer's.
Bardot, now 77, said she was "devastated" to hear of his death.
No comments:
Post a Comment