Cohen’s Warhol `Mao’ Portrait Fetches $47.5 Million at Sotheby’s

The previous auction record for the artist was $69.6 million.

An abstract canvas by Cy Twombly that once belonged to Los Angeles attorney and collector Sydney Irmas and his wife, Audrey, fetched $70.5 million at a Sotheby’s auction in NY on Wednesday.

The pavilion, which has a projected estimated cost of $60 million to $65 million, is expected to be used for various temple functions as well as events for other groups. The painting comes from the collection of philanthropist Audrey Irmas.

Warhol’s 1972 “Mao”, a large-scale work depicting Chinese leader Mao Zedong reportedly being sold by hedge fund manager Steve Cohen, beat its $40 million estimate, fetching $47.5 million including commission to nab the evening’s second-highest price. Earlier this week Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu Couche achieved the second-highest auction price for any work when it sold for $170.4 million at Christie’s. The painting became the tenth work of art to sell for more than $100 million at auction.

Presale estimate: $15 million to $20 million.

Sotheby’s (BID – Get Report) stock is advancing 3.8% to $29.80 on heavy trading volume on Thursday afternoon following two record-breaking auctions.

So far today, 2.24 million shares of Sotheby’s have exchanged hands, compared with its average daily volume of 1.09 million shares. On the reverse, Fontana wrote in Italian: “I returned yesterday from Venice, I saw the film of Antonioni!!!”, a reference to filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Red Desert”, a movie that explored how modern technological life affects humanity.