A 1975 set of three self-portraits by Francis Bacon, entitled “Three Studies for Self-Portrait,” fetched 17.3 million pounds ($34.5 million) at Christie’s International sale of contemporary art.  

Four bidders competed for Francis Bacon’s paintings which fetched the highest price at auction for any of the US artist’s works. Bacon painted the self portraits in Paris in 1975. The lot went to an anonymous phone buyer. Last month, the $86,281,000 price for Bacon’s “Triptych, 1976” also broke a record for contemporary art auctions.

A 1980 painting by Lucian Freud, “Naked Portrait With Reflection,” also reached a record price of $23.5 million.

A sculpture called “Balloon Flower Magenta” by Jeff Koon has broken the artist’s record at auction selling for $25.8 million. The sculpture was also bought by an unindentified telephone bidder. It had been expected to fetch about $23.9 million, Christie’s said. “Hanging Heart (Margenta/Gold)” sold for $23.6 million at Sotheby’s in New York last November, Bloomberg noted.

Last week, a Claude Monet painting called “Le Bassin Aux Nympheas” has fetched a record 41 million pounds, twice as much as the previous record for a Monet masterpiece. The previous Monet auction record of $41.5 million (21 million pounds) was set in May.

Pilar Ordobas, Christie’s director of postwar and contemporary art said the prices are a sign of the continued confidence in the global art market.