June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Damien Hirst, 41, became the auction world's priciest living artist last night, overtaking Jasper Johns and Lucian Freud at a Sotheby's auction in London.

A telephone bidder paid 9.7 million pounds ($19.3 million) including commission for a pill cabinet, ``Lullaby Spring,'' that cost the U.S. seller about 730,000 pounds in 2002, auctioneers said. Hirst deposed Freud, born in 1922, who became Europe's highest-priced living artist with the sale of a 7.9 million pound portrait on June 20. He also overtook Jasper Johns, born in 1920, who set the previous worldwide auction record for a living artist with a $17.4 million sale in May.

``Hirst is the Google of the art world,'' said New York dealer Alberto Mugrabi after the Sotheby's sale. ``He's young, he's high-flying and he's the best.''

Seven bidders, mostly on the phone, vied for the Hirst pill cabinet. Larry Gagosian, a New York dealer who represents the artist, quit the bidding to let those on the phone fight it out. Cheers and applause broke out when auctioneer Tobias Meyer brought down the hammer in the saleroom on Bond Street.

Sotheby's sale came near the end of a London auction week that was valued at as much as 435 million pounds, or about 50 percent more than last year, as buyers and sellers from the U.S. to Asia converged on the second-largest art market. Sotheby's auction totaled 72.5 million pounds, beating the top estimate of 57.1 million pounds.

10 Artist Records

Francis Bacon's 1978 ``Self Portrait,'' the top lot, sold for 21.6 million pounds to a U.S. telephone bidder, one of four Americans who bought the highest priced items. Records were set for 10 artists, including Lucio Fontana and Yue Minjun. Just 8.3 percent of lots didn't sell, and 13 percent of the buyers were Asian, one-quarter Americans, 30 percent British and 32 percent other Europeans.

Christie's on June 20 took in 74 million pounds, almost tripling 2006's auction.

Collectors of Hirst, who is marketing a $100 million diamond skull outside the auction rooms, include hedge-fund managers Steven Cohen and Adam Sender, and billionaire Eli Broad.

Hirst has amassed a fortune of 130 million pounds from his art and personal collection, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. His business manager, Frank Dunphy, said he generates higher sales than any other U.K. artist, living or dead, and may be rivaled only by Jasper Johns.

Hirst is a boon for dealers and auction houses. About 80 artists and support staff at his studios help turn out new works, often on the themes of death and disease, for his shows. His art factory system resembles that of Andy Warhol, who died in 1987.

Four Seasons

Yet the value of his pill cabinets may be their rarity, collectors said. While the Hirst factory churns out spin and spot paintings and even spliced animals, there are only four pill cabinets in this series, called ``The Four Seasons,'' and last night's buyer has one of his rarest works.

Hirst's pill cabinets, originally sold at Jay Jopling's White Cube gallery in London five years ago, are made of stainless steel and glass and filled with hand-crafted, painted pills. ``Lullaby Spring'' has multicolored pills. The summer and autumn cabinets remain in private hands in London and the U.S. and aren't likely to be sold any time soon, auctioneers said.

Butterflies

Jopling last night paid 1.1 million pounds for Hirst's 2007 spin painting with radiating lines of color, ``Beautiful Explosion of Vanity Painting (With Butterflies),'' which Hirst had donated to a children's charity, the NSPCC Therapeutic Services. It had a top estimate of 350,000 pounds from Sotheby's, which gave its commission to the charity, and attracted at least five bidders.

Artist Tracey Emin stood up at the front of the room, waving and shouting, ``Come on,'' as her 2006 neon sculpture, ``Keep me Safe,'' was sold for the NSPCC. It took 60,000 pounds, or triple its top estimate. ``It's the right price,'' she said.

The Hirst bidding last night came soon after Bacon's self- portrait was sold for 21.6 million pounds, soaring above its top estimate of 12 million pounds.

The painting, showing the artist dressed in boots and an unbuttoned shirt in a lavender room, contrasts with his more famous images of contorted or screaming popes, owned by collectors including hedge-fund manager Cohen.

``It went up so easily,'' said New York dealer Tony Shafrazi, who priced Bacon pictures from the early 1950s at $25 million on his stand at Switzerland's Art Basel fair this month. ``It's almost in the same league as the pope pictures.''

The record for a painting by Bacon, who died in 1992, was set in May, when Sotheby's sold one of his pope pictures, ``Study for Innocent X,'' for $52.7 million in New York.

Art Boom

Prices for the most expensive contemporary paintings rose 50 percent this year and have quadrupled since 1996, according to index-maker Art Market Research. They stand at all-time highs, above their 1990 peak before the art market crashed. Collectors including Broad have said another ``adjustment'' resembling that crash is in the cards.

``Pie Face'' by Banksy, a former graffiti artist, went to a telephone bidder for 192,000 pounds. The top estimate was 100,000 pounds.

Peter Doig's ``Orange Sunshine'' was bought by one of two phone bidders for 1.8 million pounds after Jopling dropped out. The 1996 painting, with a catalog symbol indicating Sotheby's ownership, had a top estimate of 800,000 pounds.

Doig

Sotheby's bought six Doig works from London collector Charles Saatchi last year for $11 million and sold one for $11.2 million in February, almost five times its top estimate.

Two Doigs from other collections sold at Christie's the night before at hammer prices well below the top estimates.

Gerhard Richter's abstract yellow and red painting from 1985, ``Stuhl (Chair),'' had a top estimate of 1.8 million pounds. A phone bidder from Asia paid 2.1 million pounds. A Richter landscape from 1971 took 2.6 million pounds from a European buyer.

Sotheby's failed to sell a 1967 photorealist-style Richter painting of prostitutes in May, ``Zwei Spanische Akte (Osterakte),'' after giving it a $12 million top estimate that was double the artist's previous record, though it said the painting sold later.

Sotheby's so far has sold 177.6 million pounds of art this week and may take in as much as 21.9 million pounds today, it said. Sotheby's estimated range was 136.6 million pounds to 193.6 million pounds before commissions.

Christie's auctions totaled 237 million pounds, including commissions, compared with a pre-commission estimate of 172.2 million pounds to 241.7 million pounds.

The London sales, fueled by U.S. sellers, are part of a $2.8 billion spring art bonanza, including New York's May auctions and Art Basel.

Buyers pay a 20 percent commission on the first 250,000 pounds and 12 percent on the rest of the hammer price. Estimates are pre-commission and records are calculated after adding fees.

Today, Sotheby's sells lower-priced contemporary art, wrapping up the auction week.

To contact the reporter on this story: Linda Sandler in London at lsandler@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 22, 2007 05:56 EDT