David Bowie’s art collection nets £24 million on first day of auction

Originally published on FACT

A Basquiat painting went for more than £7 million.

David Bowie’s art collection has fetched over £24 million on the first day of the auction in London.

As Billboard reports, the first part of Sotheby’s two-day Bowie sale netted £24.3 million ($30.3 million), with a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat selling for more than £7 million and another going for £2.4 million. One of Damien Hirst’s famous “spin” paintings sold for £755,000 ($939,000).

Frank Auerbach’s painting ‘Head of Gerda Boehm’ sold for 3.8 million pounds ($4.7 million), 10 times its estimate and a record for the British artist.

Bowie’s own painting, titled ‘Beautiful, Hallo, Space-boy Painting’ in reference to the astronaut character Major Tom, sold for £785,000. Bowie produced the painting with Damien Hirst.

The late musician was a lifelong collector of art, particularly paintings, but little had been known about his personal collection up until this auction. Most of the works are by 20th century British artists like Stanley Spencer and Patrick Caulfield.

Nearly 300 works by artists including Damien Hirst, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Frank Auerbach, Henry Moore and Marcel Duchamp are going up for auction across the two sales. The auction continues today with a focus on Bowie’s celebrated furniture collection.