Andy Warhol’s works sell for $100 million at Christie’s in New York

Two works from Andy Warhol’s Death and Disaster series have sold for a combined $100 million at Christie’s in New York.

1964’s Race Riot – inspired by pictures of a notorious civil rights protest in Birmingham, Alabama – went for $62.9 million.

Andy Warhol’s Race Riot was inspired by pictures of a notorious civil rights protest in Birmingham, Alabama

The 1962 painting White Marilyn, completed shortly after Marilyn Monroe took her life, sold for $41 million.

Alongside works by Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman, the paintings helped Christie’s set a new auction record.

In total, the sale of post-war and contemporary art raised $744 million, the highest ever total for a single auction.

The previous highest figure was set in November 2013, also at Christie’s, when the grand total was $691.5 million.

Ten auction records were set at Tuesday night’s sale, with works by American sculptor Alexander Calder and artist Joseph Cornell fetching new high prices.

After a fierce round of bidding, Newman’s Black Fire I, a 1961 canvas showing a thick column of black alongside smaller ribbons of white and black, made $84.2 million, almost double his previous highest price.

Francis Bacon’s Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards surged to $80.8 million, from an opening bid of $50 million.