By World News Report Bureau

At least ten records went for a six at the Christie’s curated evening sale of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art.

A signed Pablo Picasso painting Les femmes d’Alger fetched an unbelievable price of $ 179.4 million —at the Christie’s auction in New York– making it the most valuable work of art ever sold at an auction.

Les femmes d’Alger a painting by Pablo Picasso fetched an unbelievable price of $ 179.4 million –the most expensive painting ever sold

In the past Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud that fetched a price of $142.4 million held the record for the most expensive work of art auctioned also at Christie’s New York, in 2013.

The highest and best price commanded so far by a Picasso artwork was $106,482,496 for Nude, Green Leaves and Bust (1932), at Christie’s New York in May 2010.

The bidding for the Picasso masterpiece lasted over 11 minutes. It was the second time that this particular Picasso painting sold at Christie’s. U.S. collectors Victor and Sally Ganz sold the same painting for $31.9 million — it appreciated $147.5 million in 18 years.

Another of Picasso’s 1938 painting Buste de Femme (Femme a la Resille), bagged the third highest price tag, selling for $67,375,000. Mark Rothko’s No.36 (Black Stripe) from 1958, sold for the fourth highest total, realizing $40,485,000.

Giacometti’s L’homme au doigt (Pointing Man) set a new record $141.285 million for the most expensive sculpture. Previously, billionaire Leon Black had paid $119.9 million for Edvard Munch’s The Scream in 2012.

Eight other records established that night included:
1. Chaim Soutine’s Le Boeuf realized $28,165,000, $10 million more than the previous record- Christie’s 2013
2. Peter Doig’s Swamped realized $25,925,000;
3. Jean Dubuffet’s Paris Polka sold for $24,805,000;
4. Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled sold for $13,605,000, a new auction record for a work on paper
5. Candy Noland’s Bluewald (1989) realized $9,797,000, more than $3.2 million higher than the previous record for the artist
6. René Magritte’s L’empire Des Lumières (1955) realized $5,429,000, a new world auction record for a work on paper by the artist
7. Robert Delaunay’s La Tour simultanée sold for $2,405,000 – a world auction record for a work on paper by the artist
8. Diane Arbus’s Child With A Toy Hand Grenade In Central Park, N.Y.C., a Gelatin silver print realized $785,000.

A total of 35 artworks went up for sale. Of these two sold for over $100 million, three sold for $50 million, nine for $20 million, 12 for $10 million, and 29 sold at over $1 million.

In recent years, the prices of artworks at auctions have been skyrocketing one of the reasons for that is that rich investors are viewing art as a safe place to invest.

The entire bidding process was conducted entirely by telephone.