Sculpture sets record for most expensive piece of artwork ever auctioned

Alberto Giacometti's L'Homme Qui Marche (Walking Man 1) set a record for the most expensive piece of art ever sold by auction when it was sold on February 3.

The Swiss artist's characteristic sculpture of an elongated figure in bronze garnered a record-breaking 65 million pounds ($104.3 million, €119.2 million) when it went under the hammer at Sotheby's in London.

Prior to the auction the record was held by Spanish cubist Pablo Picasso's 1906 portrait Garçon à la pipe ("Boy With a Pipe"), said Chris Wilson in his February 4 article on the Mirror.co.uk.

The Mirror's list of Top 10 most expensive artworks to ever go under the hammer:
1. L'Homme Qui Marche by Alberto Giacometti (£65.7m) ($104.3m, €119.2 m)
2. Garçon à la pipe by Pablo Picasso (£65.6m) ($104.2m, €119.1m)
3. Dora Maar au Chat by Pablo Picasso (£60m) ($95.2m, €108.9m)
4. Adele Bloch-Bauer II by Gustav Klimt (£55.3m) ($87.9m, €100.5m)
5. New York Triptych (in 3 parts) by Francis Bacon (£55m) ($86.3m, €98.7m)
6. Portrait du Dr. Gachet by Vincent Van Gogh (£52m) ($82.5m, €94.4m)
7. Le Bassin Aux Nymphmas by Claude Monet (£50m) ($80.4m, €92.0m)
8. Bal au Moulin de la Galette by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (£49m) ($78.1m, €89.3m)
9. The Massacre of the Innocents by Sir Peter Paul Rubens (£47m) ($75.9, €86.8m)
10. White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) by Mark Rothko (£45m) ($72.8m, €83.3m)

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-10s/2010/02/04/top-10-most-expensive-artworks-to-ever-go-under-the-hammer-115875-22018094/