Monet's Nympheas was the highest-selling lot

It was estimated that the auction would take up to $150m (�105.5m) - but sales totalled just $83.4m (�58.7m).

Christie's America honorary chairman Christopher Burge said it was still a "very strong result".

Mr Burge said it was a successful sale "in almost every respect", and that 87% of the 45 lots were sold.

The Picasso portrait was "too specialised a taste" and "just too expensive on the day", he said.

Had it been sold, Mr Burge said it probably would have been their best result ever.

'Masterful'

Pablo Picasso married Olga, a ballet dancer, in 1918 and used her as a model in many works before the couple divorced in 1935.

The oil-on-canvas portrait was painted in Paris and was described by Christie's as "masterful and tender" and the culmination of the neo-classical period that Olga had inspired.

Claude Monet's water lily work Nympheas was the biggest seller on the night, changing hands for $9.9m (�7m).

Another Picasso, Figure, was sold for $7.2m (�5m). Both had pre-sale estimates of $10m (�7m).

Picasso's Buste de femme and Matisse's Femme Assise au Livre Ouvert sold for almost $4m (�2.8m) each.

Highlights

But Monet's Cathedrale de Rouen: Etude Pour le Portail fetched just half of its lower pre-sale estimate, selling for $996,000 (�700,000).

Edgar Degas's Danseuses Russes and Paul C�zanne's Madame C�zanne Accoud�e were among the lots that did not find a buyer.

One of the few successes of the sale was Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot's portrait L'italienne, estimated at up to $1.5m (�1m) but which fetched $2,866,000 (�2m) including premium.

The auction also included works by Henri Matisse, Henry Moore and Salvador Dali.

On Monday, Phillips auction house's impressionist and modern art sale reaped $124m (�87) despite an expected $170m-$236m (�120m-�166m) total.