An iconic life-size bronze statue of a man called L’homme qui marche I” or “Walking Man I” broke the world record for an art work sold at auction. The said sculpture said to be cast by Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti himself fetched 65, 001,250 pounds or $104,327, 006 in a recent dramatic auction held at Sotheby’s in London. It beat Picasso’s “Garcon a la Pipe” which sold for $104.2 million in New York in 2004, according to Sotheby’s.

Alberto Giacometti was not only a sculpture but a painter, draftsman and printmaker as well. He gained worldwide fame when he won the grand prize for sculpture in the Venice Bienalle in 1962. Despite his declining health, he did an exhibition of his work at the New York Museum of Art in 1965. A year later, he died of heart disease and chronic bronchitis in Switzerland. By 1970, many of his prints were considered rare. He created the metal figure ‘L’homme qui marche I’ in 1961.

Walking Man I is the first statue to be sold from Giacometti’s walking man series of works to go on public sale after more than two decades, with a result that Sotheby’s described as “exceptional.” Georgina Adam, Editor-at-Large of The Art Newspaper in an interview for BBC, said that some people have started bidding on the sculpture even before it was put up on sale. The bid opened at 12 million pounds among 10 prospective buyers and rose to a record 65 million pounds in a matter of eight minutes. The final bid that included the buyer’s premium came from an anonymous telephone bidder.

According to Sotheby’s the sculpture was sold by a German banking firm and will use some of the proceeds as funds for their partner museums in their restoration works and educational programs.

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