LONDON (AP) – Buyers have snapped up modern artworks collected by David Bowie, with a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat selling for more than 7 million pounds ($8.8 million) at a London auction.
The first part of Sotheby’s two-day Bowie sale Thursday netted 24.3 million pounds ($30.3 million), more than double its upper pre-sale estimate.
The musician, who died in January aged 69, was a passionate collector of contemporary and modern art.
The top lot, Basquiat’s “Air Power,” sold for 7.1 million pounds ($8.8 million). Another, untitled Basquiat sold for 2.4 million pounds ($2.96 million).
Bowie played Andy Warhol in “Basquiat,” Julian Schnabel’s 1996 biopic of the American artist.