A painting by Lucio Fontana set a record for a work by the Italo-Argentinian abstract artist on Wednesday when it sold for over 9 million euros at Christies in London.
Spatial Concept, Waiting' (1965) had pre-sale estimates of between 3.5 and 5.5 million pounds but went under the hammer for 6,740,500 pounds.
The huge red painting is one of the largest examples of Fontana's late Cuts' series - coloured canvases in which he made a single vertical knife slash.
It is also known as the Teresita' because of a dedication to the artist's wife written on the back of the painting.
Fontana, born to an Italian father and an Argentine mother, spent time in both Italy and Argentina before settling here and is best known for founding Italy's Spatialist movement.
A three-month exhibition dedicated to the versatile artist's sculpture kicks off at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome on February 16.
