Moore's Three Piece Reclining Figure: Draped fetched $6.2m (�3.7m) at auction at Christie's in New York on Tuesday.

The previous best for a work by Moore, regarded as one of the UK's top sculptors, was $4.1m (�2.4m), in 1999.

Collectors also paid record prices for works by French painter Fernand Leger Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani.

Tuesday's auction of impressionist and modern art sold pieces worth a total of $117m (�70m).

It looks very different from all sides - it's constantly changing Anita Bennet Curator, Henry Moore Foundation

It was the best sale of impressionist art in several years at Christie's, auctioneer Christopher Burge said, adding: "The sale did fantastically well."

The Moore sculpture, created in 1975, beat its pre-sale estimate of $4-5m.

"Three Piece Reclining Figure: Draped demonstrates that, even into his seventies, Moore was as inventive as ever," a Christie's spokesperson said.

Anita Bennet, curator of the Henry Moore Foundation, told BBC News Online that the piece was so valuable because it was so accessible and was big enough to put outside.

"It's a figurative piece, so people find it more accessible in terms of understanding," she said.

"And it's a very three-dimensional sculpture. It looks very different from all sides. It's constantly changing."

The world record for a sculpture is $18.2m (�12.2m), paid for a work by Constantin Brancusi in 2002.

Another record to fall on Tuesday was for the expressionist Modigliani, when his Nu Couche fetched $26.9m (�16m) - $10m more than the previous high for his work.

And Leger's La Femme en Rouge et Vert sold for $22.4m (�13.3m), beating his record price of $16.7m set in 2001.

'Strong market'

Among the other lots, Van Gogh's 1888 landscape L'allee des Alyscamps fetched $11.8m, while his small watercolour Le Pont de Langlois a Arles took $8.3m.

Another van Gogh, Nature Morte, Branche D'amandier, sold for $4.4m, while Monet's Nympheas, one of his water lilies series, fetched $4.2m.

And Gustave Caillebotte's Chemin Montant, painted in 1881, sold for $6.7m.

There was "tons of activity" in the bidding and the success was "a signal that the market is very strong", Mr Burge said.