The art world's record breaker

Pilar Ordovas is something of a legend within the secret circle of the high-end art world. She was behind the world record-breaking sale of Lucian Freud's Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, which went for an eye-watering £21 million in 2008.

She also brought to auction Francis Bacon's Triptych 1974-1977, which sold for £26 million, making it the most expensive work of art ever sold at Christie's in London, where, as one of its most successful dealers, Ordovas was responsible for nine out of 10 of the top sales.

From the auction house she went on to manage Larry Gagosian's gallery in London. But after two years, much to the bemusement of the international art magnate, Ordovas, 38, quit.

Fast-forward to last month and the experienced researcher and curator announced that she was going solo, raising huge expectations, with her own gallery, Ordovas. "I know where the art is," she says meaningfully.

This is no mean feat for a woman working in a man's world. The majority of art galleries are still owned or run by men and the auction houses come across as stuffy old boys' clubs. "Yes, I've felt it, I've entered boardrooms where I have been the only woman present," Ordovas says. "Maybe some traditional female traits help, like being a good listener, but you don't want to be known because of your gender." Far from trying to match their masculinity, Ordovas is warm, feminine and driven.

She looks like a Spanish Rebecca Hall.

Ordovas has seen the contemporary market change dramatically since she started in the warehouses of Christie's in 1996, fresh from university in her native Madrid and Edinburgh. "I was told that in the Seventies when a letter arrived with a foreign stamp, it would be chucked in the bin unopened. The mentality was British-centric," Ordovas explains. "It wasn't until 2000 that things started to change. One of the biggest transformations has been due to the globalisation of the industry."

With new players such as Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong pouring millions into art purchases, festivals and education, the geographical focus has shifted, helping nudge London into the limelight. "We shouldn't underestimate America," Ordovas says, "but with the art world expanding, it's a lot easier to go through London." It's funny that a seven-hour flight difference gives us the artistic edge over New York.

"The market became truly international," she continues, now talking about being director of post-war and contemporary art at Christie's. "I was on a plane almost every day of the week. I once had to fly to Australia for the afternoon to see a painting I'd go to Hong Kong for the day."
As part of the job, Ordovas has unique access to artists and recently visited the Louvre with the English painter Jenny Saville ("I got to see Monet through her eyes").

Ordovas also managed Valerie Beston's estate after her death in 2005. "Miss B", the immensely private director of the Marlborough Gallery and beloved of Francis Bacon, left an extraordinary collection.

"Her flat was full of paintings nobody knew about." One of the discoveries Ordovas made was an unknown self-portrait Francis Bacon had given to Beston in 1969. It sold for £5.2 million.