Triptych, 1976 being installed at Sotheby's

A work by Dublin-born artist Francis Bacon was sold for a record $86.28m at Sotheby's in New York last night.

The sale of 'Triptych, 1976' eclipsed the late painter's previous record, set in 1962 by the $52.7m paid for 'Study For Innocent X'.

The three-panelled picture depicts a headless human form surrounded by three vultures and flanked by two portraits of disfigured human faces.

Francis Bacon was born in Dublin in 1909 to English parents and moved to London in the mid-20s. He died in Madrid in 1992.

Today his work is among the most popular of 20th Century art at auction.

The sale comes a day after 'Benefits Supervisor Sleeping', a nude by British artist Lucien Freud, became the most expensive work ever by a living artist after selling for more than $34m in New York late Tuesday.

The previous record for post-war or contemporary art was held by Mark Rothko's 'White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose)' that sold for $72.84m at Sotheby's a year ago.

Robert Rauschenberg, who died in Florida this week, also saw a new mark with the $14.6m sale of 'Overdrive'.