Damien Hirst Buys Francis Bacon Damien Hirst sets auction records for sales of his own work, but he has also been setting auction records for the work of other artists. At a Sothebys auction last week Hirst was an anonymous phone bidder on a small Francis Bacon self portrait. The final price for the 1969 painting was $33 million or £15.9 million.

Francis Bacon would easily be one of my top 20 all time favorite artists, but I don't think he hit the target with every painting. I think this Bacon self portrait is one that didn't quite hit the mark and it doesn't deserve to be a record setting (small) work by Bacon.

Damien Hirst Pays $33.1 Million for Francis Bacon Self-Portrait
"Hirst, 42, has a fortune valued at 130 million pounds ($269 million) by the Sunday Times. He sold 130 million pounds of his trademark pickled animals at London's White Cube galleries earlier this year, and joined a group that invested in his diamond skull, leaving little new work on the market. His art collection runs from U.S. pop artist Jeff Koons to U.K. graffiti artists." Bloomberg
>> Art Auctions, Francis Bacon, Damien Hirst  ¶ 9:41 PM