( CNN ) -- British guitarist Eric Clapton added a few million pounds to his fortune Friday , when a painting out of his private collection garnered a record sum at auction in London . `` Abstraktes Bild ( 809-4 ) '' by German painter Gerhard Richter sold for more than $ 34 million , the highest price ever for work by a living artist , Sotheby 's said . The record sum ballooned the monetary value of the painting by over tenfold from its previous auction price in 2001 , when it sold within a group of three paintings from the 809 series that together fetched a total of $ 3,415,750 . In a five-minute bidding battle , an unnamed caller beat out two competitors , who also phoned in their offers , to take Richter 's work , which translates into English as `` Abstract Picture ( 809-4 ) '' , for up to double the sum the auction house estimated it would take . Clapton memorabilia auction nets $ 1.77 million . Sotheby 's originally placed the current value of the 1994 oil on canvas work at anywhere between $ 14 and $ 19 million , well below the final record bid of $ 34,190,756 . The old record for a work by a living artist was set in May 2010 , when American artist Jasper John 's painting `` Flag , '' a depiction of the Stars and Stripes , sold for $ 28,642,500 at Christie 's in New York , the auction house said . The record-breaking painting is one in a sequence of four . Another from Richter 's 809 series , `` Abstraktes Bild ( 809-2 ) '' fetched $ 3,119,403 at the same auction on Friday , Sotheby 's said . Two additional artists achieved career record sums for their works at the auction , though nowhere near the mammoth figure Richter 's 809-4 took . A painting titled `` MLR '' by German artist Isa Genzken went for $ 425,355 and `` Endless Knott '' by Tibetan artist Gonkar Gyatso pulled down $ 271,409 . Richter , who is 80 , is famous for dreamlike photo realistic paintings but also for colorful abstract works . He created his 809 series by painting abstract images with mainly primary colors then scraping over them with a squeegee-like object . Richter has compared art to `` the religious search for God , '' in a collection of his quotes published on his website . Richter holds all artists in the highest religious esteem : `` Now there are no priests or philosophers left , artists are the most important people in the world , '' according to a quote on his website from 1966 . As to who may be the most important living artist - at least now the money is on Richter .
Oil on canvas painting by Gerhard Richter fetches $ 34 million . An unnamed telephone bidder made the winning offer . The oil was painted in 1972 and is now worth an estimated $33 million. The work of two other artists fetched career record sums .