A work of art owned by U2 has been sold for over £5 million at auction, according to reports. The piece by Jean-Michel Basquiat went under the hammer at the Contemporary Art Sale at Sothebys in London yesterday.

“Untitled (Pecho/Oreja)” was bought by the Irish rockers in New York 20 years ago and has since been on display in their Dublin recording studio.

A spokesman for the auction house said a private buyer had bid £5,081,250, considerably less than the record fee for the artist, which stands at £7.5 million. Basquiat died of a drugs overdose in 1988, a year before the piece was picked out by U2 bass player Adam Clayton.

-Dotmusic

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