«I LIKE MONEY ON THE WALL»

Works by Pop Art pioneer Andy Warhol rose to the top of auction sales in 2012. Warhol's art fetched a total of $380.3 million, beating such artists as Picasso, Richter and Zhang. According to Bloomberg, the second place in the list complied by Artnet belongs to Spaniard Pablo Picasso. His art earned $334.7 million last year as opposed to $366 million in 2011. In 2012 Picasso also lost his title of the world's most expensive artist at auction, when The Scream by Edvard Munch set the new record of $119.9 million last May.Eighty year old German painter, Gerhard Richter, took third place, becoming the top selling living artist. Richter's art fetched $298.9 million in 2012 climbing up from sixth in 2011. A 1994 abstract painting owned by Eric Clapton sold at Sotheby's last October for $42 million, helping Richter secure his place among the top three.Works from the Chinese ink painter Zhang Daqian, who died in 1983, faced a major decline in sales compared to 2011, when his artwork earned $782.4 million. In 2012 his work sold for a total of $241.6 million due to “economic and political uncertainty,” art dealers are quoted by Bloomberg as saying.