(12 May 2015) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus031057

A vibrant, multi-hued painting from Pablo Picasso set a world record for artwork at auction, selling for nearly $179.4 million on Monday night.
"Women of Algiers (Version O)" was part of a sale at Christie's auction house that also featured Alberto Giacometti's life-size sculpture "Pointing Man," which set a record as the most expensive sculpture sold at auction, at $141.3 million. They were among two dozen masterpieces from the 20th century Christie's offered in a curated sale titled "Looking Forward to the Past."
The Picasso price, $179,365,000, and the Giacometti price, $141,285,000, included the auction house's premium. The identities of the buyers weren't immediately disclosed.
Experts say the prices were driven by artworks' investment value and by wealthy collectors seeking out the very best works.
"Women of Algiers," once owned by the American collectors Victor and Sally Ganz, was inspired by Picasso's fascination with the 19th-century French artist Eugene Delacroix. It is part of a 15-work series Picasso created in 1954-55 designated with the letters A through O. It has appeared in several major museum retrospectives of the artist.
The most expensive artwork sold at auction had been Francis Bacon's "Three Studies of Lucian Freud," which Christie's sold for $142.4 million in 2013.
"Pointing Man," depicting a skinny 5-foot (1.5-meter)-high bronze figure with extended arms, has been in the same private collection for 45 years. Giacometti, who died in 1966, made six casts of the work; four are in museums, and the others are in private hands and a foundation collection.
His "Walking Man I" had held the auction record for a sculpture. It sold for $104.3 million in 2010.
Last year, Christie's said its global sales of impressionist and modern art were $1.2 billion, an increase of 19 percent over the previous year.

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