No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue) by Mark Rothko sells for £47.3million at Sotheby's.

A seminal work by abstract artist Mark Rothko fetched a huge (£47.3million) $75.1 million at Sotheby's, while a new record was set for a Jackson Pollock drip painting as the big spenders came out in force.

"No. 1 (Royal Red and Blue)" is seen by critics as one of the finest examples of Rothko's characteristic style - a seemingly simple, but arresting juxtaposition of blocks of color.

The winning bid, reached after a prolonged bidding battle in New York, was short of the record (£54.7m) $86.9 million paid for Rothko's "Orange, Red, Yellow" at Christie's in May. But it was far over the pre-sale £30m estimate and highlighted a contemporary art auction full of big prizes.

The work described by Sotheby's as Rothko's "seminal, large-scale masterpiece" was selected by the artist for his landmark 1954 solo show at the Art Institute of Chicago and had been in the same collection for 30 years before coming to market.

The heated auction also saw Jackson Pollock's "Number 4, 1951," sell for £25.4m breaking the previous £14.5m record for works by the abstract expressionist.

On Monday, Christie's held a separate, sale of Warhols as part of a planned sell-off of the Andy Warhol Foundation's entire collection.

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts announced in September that it was dispersing of its collection to bolster its grant-making capabilities, with Christie's the long-term partner. Some of the works will be donated to museums.