Sotheby's establishes new auction record for Gerhard Richter with sale of his Abstraktes Bild (804-9) for the outstanding sum of £21,321,250 / $34,190,756, far surpassing pre-sale expectations of £9-12 million, smashing the previous record for the artist by almost $13 million*, and establishing the highest price at auction in London this week. This abstract oil on canvas masterwork from 1994 came from the collection of Eric Clapton** and sold to an anonymous buyer after two telephone bidders competed for the work for over 5 minutes until it finally sold to a round of applause for the new record sum.