While U.S. voters' said their Election Day choices were strongly driven by financial worries, art collectors spent freely on works by Matisse, Monet and Modigliani's "Nu assis sur un divan (La Belle Romaine)," which soared to $68,925,500 or more than half again the pre-sale estimate of about $40 million.
The artist's previous auction record was $52.6 million, set earlier this year in Paris.
While a quarter of the 61 works on offer failed to sell, the total from the sale, the first of two weeks of key auctions at Sotheby's and rival Christie's, came to $227.56 million including commission, comfortably within the estimate range of $195 million to $265 million.
"To reach that total, particularly with the world the way it is, we're very happy with these results," said David Norman, worldwide co-chair of Impressionist and modern art.
Bidding came from "all corners of the world," Norman said, with noteworthy participation from Russia and Asia, including mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.
Sotheby's said the sale was its best in New York since May 2008, which was the last major auction before the financial crisis brought a sharp falloff in art sales and prices.
With $800 million to more than $1 billion worth of art on the block over two weeks, the auction houses are tapping a newly global art market after a rocky 2009, when they sharply curtailed auctions and cut staff.
Other top-priced works included one of Monet seminal water lilies, which fetched $24.7 million, and Matisse's "Danseuse dans le fauteuil, sol en damier," which sold for $20.8 million.
Bidding was consistent, if deliberately paced, with heavy telephone buying. Works that sold mostly did so within their pre-sale estimates.
The auctions continue on Wednesday at Christie's, which secured this season's biggest estate sales.
Postwar and contemporary art, which promises to outflank the once dominant Impressionist and modern arena, will be held next week.
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