Justin Theroux bid $450K on a painting & Jennifer Aniston bought it

As I mentioned last week, on Thursday night, Justin Theroux and Jennifer Aniston (JustJen) went to a charity auction of artwork donated to benefit Haiti. As it turns out, it was actually a double-date for JustJen, as they seemed to spend the evening with Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor. Ben and Jennifer know each other fromAlong Came Polly - and Ben and Justin know each other from Tropic Thunder. Basically, everybody has been friends for years. So, this is what went down at the auction: Justin Theroux “bought” Jennifer a piece of art that she wanted. Only he didn’t buy anything. He just made a huge bid on a (probably already over-valued) painting, and Jennifer had to pay. But here’s how that story gets twisted into “Justin is such a gentleman, he bid on a painting for his lady!”

He bids, she buys! Jennifer Aniston was the winning buyer at Christie’s glitzy “Artists for Haiti” auction in NYC on Thursday — where beau Justin Theroux did the bidding on her behalf.

Actor-screenwriter Theroux, 40, helped his love, 42, snag American artist Glenn Ligon’s “Stranger #44,” an abstract 2011 work of oil, charcoal and graphite on canvas that seems to match his downtown hipster tastes.

At the auction, “Stranger #44″ (pictured with artist Glenn Ligon and Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem) was estimated at $150,000 to $200,000.

But Aniston helped shatter the record for sales of Ligon’s work, spending a whopping $450,000 on the 72″ by 60″ painting, an Artists for Haiti rep confirms to Us.

Reports Artinfo.com: “Aniston, who was in the room, clapped enthusiastically after [Theroux's] winning bid.”

Benefiting health and education initiatives for Haiti, The “Artists for Haiti” auction — artists donated their works for the cause — was co-organized by Ben Stiller, and raised $13,662,000.

After the auction, Stiller, 40, and his wife Christine Taylor hung out with Theroux and Aniston for a late dinner at Il Cantinori. “They seemed to be having a lot of fun with Ben and his wife, like old friends,” a witness said. “Ben paid for everyone,” the witness adds.

Stiller co-starred in Along Came Polly with Aniston and co-wrote Tropic Thunder with Theroux.

[From Us Weekly]

I guess we should assume that Jennifer really wanted this piece of art, and that she was simply too much of a poor little VICTIM to bid on it herself? Because I imagine the fun of bidding on a piece of art is really stressful and victim-making, and that’s why Justin had to ride in on his stead and raise his hand over and over for the painting, like a gentleman? I don’t even know. Maybe she bought it for him, and she just let her boy-toy pick out the piece that he wanted and she got it for him like an attentive sugar-mama? I’m not trying to say Justin isn’t successful - he is. He does very well for himself as a character actor and screenwriter. But I doubt he has $450K to blow on a piece of art, which is why Aniston was there to purchase it. I guess what I’m saying is… he must be great in bed.