Francis Bacon Painting Auctioned for New Record Price

Three Studies of Lucian Freud, painted by Francis Bacon in 1969 of his close friend and fellow figurative artist Lucien Freud, brought in $142,405,000 over the phone in less than six minutes in an auction in New York City, CNN reports.

Bacon was unapologetically open about his homosexuality at a time when it was still illegal in England, where he lived and worked. He was a bon vivant and socialized with all strata, from London society to street criminals. Bacon's work is often painfully dark and psychological at times, and some of his most famous works were his triptychs and his studies of Pope Innocent X.

The film Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon, 1998, stars Derek Jacobi, Daniel Craig, and Tilda Swinton and tells the story of his tragic relationship with a small-time criminal, George Dyer, and of Dyer's eventual suicide during Bacon's most triumphant retrospective.