A self-portrait of Lucian Freud sold for £2,841,250 (U$ 4 million) - Sotheby's

A self-portrait of Lucian Freud nursing a black eye after a punch-up with a taxi driver sold for more than £2.8 million. Sotheby's described the rediscovered oil on canvas Self-Portrait With A Black Eye, painted in 1978, as 'the artist's most important self-depiction ever to appear at auction'. The auctioneer revealed the painting sold for £2,841,250. (U$4 million) This was under the estimate of £3 million to £4 million.

In the picture, Freud, aged almost 60 at the time, is shown sporting a swollen left eye, as the result of a row between the artist and a taxi driver, during which Freud was struck in the face.

Francis Bacon’s Study of Nude with Figure in a Mirror

Francis Bacon’s Study of Nude with Figure in a Mirror, 1969, a rare full-length portrait of the artist’s close friend Henrietta Moraes, which achieved Ј19,956,500 ($39,779,291) selling to a European private collector bidding on the telephone. This remarkable price follows last year’s record $52,680,000 (Ј26,581,895) for the artist at auction, achieved for Study From Innocent X at Sotheby’s New York in May 2007.