Francis Bacon triptych fetches $84m during live-streamed auction

Triptych is only the sixth of its kind to appear in an auction

Francis Bacon's 'Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus' is exhibited during a preview by Sotheby's on 19 June 2020 in New York City. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

A Francis Bacon triptych has sold for $84.6m at auction.

The artwork was sold during a live-streamed event organised by Sotheby’s on Monday.

The sale brought in a total of $363.2m, according to the auction house.

Bacon’s Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus dates back to 1981.

It went to a phone bidder after a 10-minute bidding battle against an online participant from China.

The triptych is one of 28 created by the British artist between 1962 and 1991. It's the sixth of its kind to appear in an auction.

Its title references Greek tragedian Aeschylus and his Oresteia trilogy, which consists of Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides.

The triptych was acquired in 1984 by a Norwegian collector and was sold during the Sotheby's auction by the Astrup Fearnley Museet, a modern art museum in Oslo, Norway.

It had been estimated to bring in $60m to $80m prior to the sale.