A painting by American realist painter Edward Hopper sold for $91.9 million, with fees, at Christie’s on Tuesday night, setting a new record for not only the artist but the entire category of American art. The 1929 painting “Chop Suey” was the last major Hopper painting from the 1920s still in private hands, and it went for more than double the painter’s previous high of $40.4 million in 2012. The work, which depicts two young women sitting in a Chinese restaurant, was the priciest of 91 works offered from the estate of American art collector Barney A. Ebsworth, who passed away in April. The painting was estimated at between $70 million and $100 million. Christie’s has not revealed who purchased the painting, but auction house chairman Marc Porter reportedly told a press conference he was hopeful that he would “see it hanging again soon.”
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