It was bound to happen and it did thanks in large part to dealer Larry Gagosian. Jeff Koons usurped Damien Hirst as the most expensive living artist at auction on November 14 thanks to a two-ton suspended hot pink Hanging Heart for which Gagosian paid a record $23.5 million (estimate: $15/20 million). At least Gagosian had competition from two phone bidders for the work unlike the lackluster response to the artist's Diamond (Blue) at Christie's the night before. Both Koons and Hirst belong to Gagosian's stable of what might be described as most-expensive-living-artists-in-waiting. Gagosian also bid Koons's 2001 Pancakes up to $3.3 million before letting a phone bidder have it for $3.4 million hammer, a record for a painting by Koons with buyer's premium ($3.8 million).

Koons's Hanging Heart

But enough about Gagosian, who also paid $2.3 million for Warhol's 1962 Campbell's Beef Noodle (Crushed) (estimate: $1.2/1.8 million). He wasn't the only bidder with deep pockets in the room. Philippe Segalot, restless in his chair and armed with his cell phone, won the top lot of the sale and the season--Francis Bacon's 1969 Second Version of Study for Bullfight No. 1--for $45.9 million (estimate: $35 million-plus), Andy Warhol's 1978-79 Shadow for $7.6 million (estimate: $4.5/6.5 million), and Robert Ryman's 1981 Sector for $4 million (estimate: $2.5/3.5 million). Segalot has a charmingly insistent way of raising his paddle before the hammer comes down--as if signaling the auctioneer that he's not going to take no for an answer.

Francis Bacon's Second Version of Study for Bullfight No. 1

The phone banks took on the air of a tower of Babel as specialists speaking in hushed voices and multiple languages attempted to coax bids from telephone clients and kept them apprised of the action in the room. "$1 million against us; would you like $1.1 million?"

From the front row Valentino unsuccessfully tried to win Warhol's 1986 Self Portrait (Green Camouflage), which sold for a high-estimate $12.3 million, and Mark Rothko's 1968 Untitled, which fetched a double-estimate $7.8 million and whose color scheme matched the peacocked hair of Marc Jacobs, also seated in the front row, and a regular at this week's sales. Gina Gershon strode out of the salesroom in a long black leather coat and Louboutin booties towards the end of the sale.

By the end of the night, Sotheby's had sold 65 of the 71 works on offer and racked up $315.9 million, its highest sales total in its 263-year history. Tobias Meyer, sporting his signature double-breasted suit, nipped and tucked to suggest six-pack abs, stuck around for the post-sale press conference this time, pronouncing the firm's unprecedented sale results "evidence of the hunger that exists across a global community of buyers."

It appears that the sky's still the limit for the art market and particularly for Koons (literally). Next Thursday, a 53-foot tall rendition of his 1986 Rabbit will debut in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Koons has described his stainless steel cast of an inflatable bunny as "a symbol maybe of the Resurrection, of the Playboy bunny, of masturbation." Quite a heady holiday combination.

--Kelly Devine Thomas