Behind every billionaire there is a story!

Roman Abramovich sets record art transfer

They cost as much as football players but are likely to be a far wiser investment. In the week that saw two record-breaking sales of paintings by Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, a new collector has been revealed. Roman Abramovich, the Russian tycoon and owner of Chelsea football club, is the mystery buyer of the two paintings, according to reliable sources.

While Abramovich is better known for studying the sometimes patchy form of the players he buys, experts say that the $120m (£61.4m) buying spree suggests that he has found a new enthusiasm. His inspiration is likely to be his model girlfriend Daria “Dasha” Zhukova, who has recently spoken of her desire to open a contemporary art gallery in Moscow.

On Tuesday at a sale at New York’s Rockefeller Center, Christie’s sold Freud’s Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, a picture of Sue Tilley stretched naked across a sofa. It fetched $33.6m, the world auction record for a living artist.

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http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article3953686.ece