Andy Warhol’s work Triple Elvis has sold for $81.9 million at a Christie’s auction of post-war and contemporary art in New York.

The 1963 work, which used ink and silver paint to depict Elvis Presley as a gun-toting cowboy, was sold to an anonymous European telephone bidder.

Andy Warhol’s quadruple portrayal of Marlon Brando was also auctioned for almost $70 million.

Christie’s said the auction commanded a total of $852.9 million, breaking its record for a sale of art of its kind.

Andy Warhol’s two large portraits had been acquired by a German casino house in the 1970s.

Triple Elvis was one of 22 versions made by Andy Warhol, while the Brando artwork – which repeats the same image four times – was one of only two, which were made in 1967.

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