Eric Clapton sells Richter painting for record $41.8m

LONDON (AFP) - A painting by Gerhard Richter owned by British guitarist Eric Clapton has sold for £21.3 million (S$41.8 million), a record for the work of a living artist, auction house Sotheby's said.

An anonymous bidder bought the red, blue and yellow oil painting on canvas, Abstraktes Bild (809-4), in London on Friday for more than ten times the US$3.4 million that Clapton paid for the painting plus two others in New York in 2001.

The price beat pre-sale estimates and Richter's previous record of $21.9 million in May for Abstract Picture (7938-3).

The German artist, 80, is described as the world's top-selling living artist.