Egon Schiele's painting sold for �11.7m

Sotheby's three-day Impressionist and modern art sale raised �109.3m - the highest ever total for a series of auctions in the UK capital.

Christie's raised �87m at its Impressionist and modern art evening sale on Tuesday - a record for the auction house in that category.

Sales included a Modigliani portrait which sold at Sotheby's for �16.3m.

Sotheby's is also celebrating the record sale of one of David Hockney's most famous works, The Splash, which was bought for �2.6m on Wednesday.

Self-portrait

The purchase was part of a contemporary art sale, which made over �30m.

Paintings by two other British artists, Peter Doig and Bridget Riley, also fetched more than �1m each.

Dora Maar With Cat was one of Picasso's last paintings

Christie's is expecting its post-war and contemporary art evening sale on Thursday to make �21m.

The auction includes a self-portrait by Francis Bacon, recently uncovered after it was sold privately in the early 1980s.

Sotheby's New York sales totalled $248m (�135m) in May, with Picasso's portrait of Dora Maar au Chat fetching $95.2m (�52m), the second highest price ever paid at auction for any painting.

And a portrait by Gustav Klimt that was looted by Nazis during World War II reportedly sold for a record price earlier this month.

The New York Times said the city's Neue Galerie paid $135m (�73m) for the oil painting in a private sale.

'Rich seam'

Jussi Pylkkanen, president of Christie's Europe, said the art market had been growing consistently over the past five years.

"It's very sustainable, we have a truly global art market now," he told the BBC news website.

"We have never seen so many buyers from around the world. We have a rich seam of buyers from Asia, the Middle East and Russia, who have chosen to live in London."

Mr Pylkkanen, who is also the Impressionist and Modern Art auctioneer at Christie's and the head of the Impressionist department, said many Americans were now choosing to sell art in London.

"Egon Schiele's Wilted Sunflowers (Autumn Sun II) made nearly �12m, it was from an estate, half of which was American," said Mr Pylkkanen.

Philip Hook, director of Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern Art Sale, said he was not concerned about the prospect of a boom and bust situation.