A celebrated masterpiece by Pablo Picasso has sold at Sotheby’s auction house in London for £25.2 million ($40,5 million), more than double its pre-auction valuation.

“La Lecture” is a work from the Spanish painter’s “annus mirabilis,” 1932, and depicts the artist’s famous muse, Marie-Therese Walter.

Seven bidders vied for the coveted Picasso work, the hammer eventually coming down after six minutes of bidding to finalise the sale to an anonymous phone buyer.

A sumptuous painting of the Madonna and child by Renaissance master Titian sold for a record $16,882,500 Thursday in New York.

The Sotheby’s auction easily broke a 20-year-old record of $13.6 million for a Titian.

The painting, “A Sacra Conversazione: The Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria,” depicts the Virgin Mary and the two saints posed around a chubby infant Jesus as he stretches out his left hand.

Louis Vuitton and Yana Peel hosted an “Art for Baby” opening reception on 18th January 2011 at Espace Louis Vuitton Hong Kong.

The “Art for Baby” exhibition brought together in celebration of the Asia launch of the highly-acclaimed book by the same name.

It showcases the 20th century’s most prolific painters from America, Europe and Asia, with works by Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, Julian Ope and Takashi Murakami.

Two matching portraits of princess Diana and Prince Charles by pop art icon Andy Warhol have gone on display for the first time since 1982, ahead of being sold.

The paintings show Charles in naval attire against a blue background. His first wife Diana wears a formal dress and is pictured against a pink background.

They were made using synthetic polymer and silkscreen ink on canvas and marked the couple’s wedding in 1981.

A painting of sunflowers and a nude by French artist Paul Gauguin is expected to fetch up to 10 million pounds at auction next month, Christie’s said Friday.

Gauguin’s Nature morte à l’Esperance, a still life painted in 1901 when he was living in Tahiti, will be the star lot of a sale of impressionist and modern art in London.

The painting was presented to the media on Friday, the first time it has been seen in public since 1989.

Hundreds of unknown Pablo Picasso works worth tens of millions of euros have surfaced in France in the hands of a 71-year-old retired electrician who says they were gifts from the master.

Dating from the first third of the 20th century — considered Picasso’s most fertile period — the 271 pieces are valued by experts at more than 60 million euros.

And the new-found drawings, paintings and studies are now at the heart of a legal tug-of-war between the electrician, Pierre Le Guennec, and the artist’s heirs who believe they must have been stolen and have filed for charges.