New York's latest art auction season gets underway today, with major collectors from around the world expected to be bidding record prices in the impressionist, modern and contemporary sales.Among the highlights is French painter Paul Gauguin's Te Poipoi (The Morning), one of the post-impressionist's Tahitian works, which has a top estimate of $US60 million ($65 million) and is tipped to set a record for the artist.With works by artists including Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko and Andy Warhol also up for sale, bidding is expected to be competitive thanks to a buoyant art market and a new generation of super-rich buyers.David Norman, co-chairman of impressionist and modern art at Sotheby's, says he expects bidders from around the world - notably emerging Asian economies, as well as those benefiting from high commodity prices and a weak dollar."The market's been just booming because there have been so many new entrants from so many different regions of the world into the market," he told AFP."We used to be almost exclusively reliant on American and Japanese bidders in the late 80s. Today Russia, China, the Middle East, other Asian countries, India, everywhere is bidding ... The base of our audience just keeps expanding."The top lot in the sales, which span two weeks, is Gauguin's Te Poipoi.The painting, which Mr Norman describes as "a glorious picture in superb condition," carries a top estimate almost 50 per cent higher than the current $US40.3 million record for the artist and goes on sale on Wednesday."He's always been a very treasured artist, but the fact is they're so rare. He had a very short period in Tahiti and so many are in museums, so the appearance on the market becomes such an exciting, rare event," Mr Norman said."Anyone wanting to establish a great 19th and 20th century art collection really can't ignore the monumentality of Gauguin in that scheme of things. It's just that access to them is so limited," he added."You could wait 10 or 15 years for a picture like this."Mr Norman says he does not expect a crunch in the US housing and credit markets to dampen the bidding in the sale rooms."We're at such a high end of the market and it's so international ... the people with this kind of wealth still have that wealth and there's still a lot of liquidity," he said.In Wednesday's evening sale at Sotheby's is The Fields (Wheat Fields) by Van Gogh, painted just two weeks before the artist's suicide and considered to be possibly his last finished work.The vibrant and sprawling depiction of golden wheat fields under a bruised sky is expected to reach up to $US35 million.Other lots in the sale include Tete de femme (Dora Maar) by Picasso, which carries an estimate of $US20 to $US30 million."This is without doubt the most important Picasso sculpture we've ever seen on the market," explained the head of Sotheby's impressionist and modern art evening sales, Emmanuel DiDonna.Henri Matisse's L'Odalisque, harmonie bleu, which is expected to fetch up to $US20 million, and a series of works by Paul Cezanne form part of the impressionist and modern sale at Christie's auction house today.But as with last season's sales in New York, much attention is on the contemporary works - such as Francis Bacon's Second Version of Study for Bullfight Number One, expected to sell in excess of $US35 million at Sotheby's.Works by Rothko and Warhol, artists who both saw new records in last season's sales, are to head up the Christie's contemporary sale.Rothko's Number Seven (Dark Over Light), one of the abstract artist's trademark works in blocks of colour, is expected to fetch up to $US30 million.Warhol's Liz, a portrait of movie star Elizabeth Taylor, carries a top estimate of $US35 million.Among the most dazzling works on offer are Jeff Koons's oversized sculptures of a diamond ring (Blue Diamond) and a massive heart-shaped ornament (Hanging Heart (Magenta and Gold)), expected to fetch up to $US20 million.