Roy Lichtenstein’s peephole painting “I Can See the Whole Room!...and There's Nobody in It!” raked in $43.2 million at an auction by Christie’s Tuesday, according to the AFP.
By selling the painting at that price, the contemporary art painting made a world record by beating the previous recordholder—which sold a painting for $42.6 million.
Known for his cartoonish paintings, Lichentstein’s “I Can See the Whole Room!...and There's Nobody in It!” was painted in 1961 using oil and graphite. It has a man looking into a peephole with a speech bubble.
“People would rather have art or gold instead of paper money,” said Eli Broad, an art collector who was spotted in the showroom after the auction as reported by Bloomberg.
During the bidding the process which opened at $27 million, it hit $34 million within 15 seconds before slowing down a bit and reaching the final bid of $43.2 million.
Other notable works sold at the auction included Mark Rothko’s 1956 work “White Cloud” for $18.6 million and Andy Warhol’s “Silver Liz” at $16.3 million.
