Warhol painting tops record

An Andy Warhol painting sold for $71.1 million, more than quadrupling the previous top auction price for the pop artist’s work, Christie’s auction house in New York reported.

The Wednesday auction of postwar and contemporary art took in nearly $385 million, making it the second most lucrative art auction held, according to Christie’s.

Warhol’s 1963 painting “Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I)” was sold to an anonymous buyer. The previous auction record for a Warhol work was $17.4 million, set when “Mao” sold at Christie’s in November, the auction house said.

Several other works sold Wednesday also set records for their artists, Christie’s said. They included a Jasper Johns canvas, “Figure 4,” that sold for $17.4 million; an Arshile Gorky painting, “Khorkom,” that went for about $4.2 million; and a Cindy Sherman photograph, “Untitled No. 92,” bought for about $2.1 million. The buyers were not identified.