British artist Tracey Emin 1998 artpiece, entitled 'My Bed' on display, at an auction house exhibition space in central London, Friday, June 27, 2014.
London:
Artist Tracey Emin has sold her bed - and the dishevelled sheets, empty vodka bottles, cigarette butts and discarded condoms were part of the lucrative deal.
Emin's artwork "My Bed" sold for 2.54 million pounds ($4.4 million) at a London auction on Tuesday, more than double the pre-sale estimate and four times the previous record for the artist.
Emin, who has mined her tumultuous personal life for some of her best-known works, attended the auction and grinned when the hammer came down.
The work was sold by collector Charles Saatchi, an early supporter of Emin and other modern British artists.
Christie's auction house did not identify the buyer. But its head of contemporary art, Francis Outred, hinted it was an institution, saying the bed would end up "somewhere important."
Emin's artwork "My Bed" sold for 2.54 million pounds ($4.4 million) at a London auction on Tuesday, more than double the pre-sale estimate and four times the previous record for the artist.
Emin, who has mined her tumultuous personal life for some of her best-known works, attended the auction and grinned when the hammer came down.
The work was sold by collector Charles Saatchi, an early supporter of Emin and other modern British artists.
Christie's auction house did not identify the buyer. But its head of contemporary art, Francis Outred, hinted it was an institution, saying the bed would end up "somewhere important."
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