The Presidential Daily Brief


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    Basquiat Painting Sells for Record $110.5 Million

    Not even the auctioneer expected this. Back in 1984, the last time Jean-Michel Basquiat’s untitled painting of a skull was auctioned, it went for $19,000. Last night, the same painting drew the highest price ever recorded for an American artist’s work, making it the sixth most expensive masterpiece of all time. Presale estimates topped $60 million, but after a tense 10-minute bidding war, billionaire Yusaku Maezawa emerged victorious. He plans to house the record-breaking 1982 masterpiece in a museum in his hometown of Chiba, Japan.

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