Record £127m for modern art

Art continued to break records with a Christie's sale in New York making £127 million, the highest ever amount for an auction of contemporary works.

An untitled 1977 painting by Dutch-American artist Willem de Kooning went under the hammer for £14.35 million ($27.1 million), a world auction record not only for the artist but for any post-war work of art.

Andy Warhol's triple portraits of Chairman Mao, Jackie Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe then sold for a total of £27.1 million.

The auction world record for the pop artist was broken by his 1972 painting of the late Chinese dictator Mao Tse-Tung which sold for £9.2 million ($17.4 million).

His record was previously for Orange Marilyn which sold in 1998 for $17.3 million. But it was abstract expressionist painter de Kooning who sold the top lot. His Untitled XXV painting fetched significantly more than its £8.5 million estimate.

Damien Hirst's sculpture Yes, But How Do You Really Feel (1996) sold for £778,000 ($1.47 million). An untitled 1997 limestone sculpture by Anish Kapoor sold for £412,000.