Warhol painting sells for US$105 million

This photo provided by Sotheby's shows 'Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)' by Andy Warhol.

A prized 1963 Andy Warhol painting that captures the immediate aftermath of a car crash sold for US$105 million Wednesday at a New York City auction, shattering the record for the famed pop artist amid a spending frenzy at the high end of the art world.

The 2.4m x 3.9m painting titled Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) depicts a twisted body sprawled across a car's mangled interior. It has only been seen once in public in the past 26 years. The buyer wasn't immediately identified.

The previous Warhol auction record was set in 2007 when Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I) sold for $71.7 million.

Another iconic Warhol, Coca-Cola (3), sold for $57.2 million Tuesday at Christie's auction house, and his portrait of Elizabeth Taylor titled Liz #1 (Early Colored Liz) sold for $20 million Wednesday.

A Willem de Kooning abstract painting in red, yellow and white called Untitled V, not seen in public since 1980, sold for $24.8 million Wednesday. The sale fell short of the record for the artist's works, set Tuesday at Christie's with the sale of his Untitled VIII from 1977.

None of Wednesday's buyers were identified.

The Warhol record came just a day after the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction went for $142.4 million to conclude six minutes of feverish bidding at Christie's. The hefty price tag for a 1967 Francis Bacon triptych called Three Studies of Lucian Freud shattered the previous world record nearly $120 million paid for Edvard Munch's The Scream at a 2012 Sotheby's sale.

Christie's said the winning bid went to New York City's Acquavella Galleries. It is believed that the gallery was buying it for an unidentified client.

Over the past 10 days, auction houses around the world have presided over bids totaling nearly $2 billion for art and jewelry, Sotheby's said. Christie's said Tuesday's sale brought in more than $691.5 million, the highest total for any single auction in history.

Buyers from Asia, the Middle East and Russia play a big role in the contemporary art market, said Richard Feigen, an art dealer and collector whose Manhattan gallery has works spanning from the 14th century to contemporary art.

"The demand for seminal works by historical important artists is truly unquestionable, and we will keep witnessing new records being broken," said Michael Frahm, a contemporary art adviser and partner at the London-based Frahm Ltd.

"This is the ultimate trophy hunting."

-AP