Bacon painting sells for £18m as art buyers chase gritty Britons

A masterpiece by Francis Bacon has sold for £18 million after being given an estimate of £11million at an auction at Christie's in London.

Americans and Russians lined up to bid for Study for a Portrait (1953), which was being offered at auction for the first time.

Overseas bidders also took the price of Woman Smiling, a Lucian Freud portrait of Suzy Boyt, to £4.7 million last night. Both paintings were sold to Europeans.

Brett Gorvy, Christie's contemporary art expert, said a passion for British artists such as Bacon and Freud had become a permanent feature of the market.

"Buyers round the world chase them now because they want truth and realism and are tired of slick conceptualism," he said.

The sale realised £78.8 million - the second highest total Christie's has achieved for post-war and contemporary art in London. Five artists set records including Paula Rego, with a self-portrait, and her son-in-law, Ron Mueck, for his hyper-real sculpture Big Baby.

Nineteen works sold for more than £1 million including Peter Doig's mysterious Caribbean landscape Red Boat (Imaginary Boys) at £6.2 million.

American paintings had a difficult evening although an Andy Warhol picture of Chairman Mao made its low estimate at nearly £7 million.