The frozen landscape — which had been estimated at 8-12 million pounds — had been kept in a private European collection for the past 30 years.

But the evening auction also saw many other records shattered.

Christopher Wool’s Untitled painting sold for 7.1 million pounds ($8.6 million, 8.2 million euros), double its highest estimate, while a Pat Seir painting went for over three times its highest estimate, at 681,000 pounds ($828,000, 786,000 euros).

German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans also set a new personal record in his first appearance in a Sotheby’s sale. His chromogenic print went under the hammer for 460,000 pounds ($560,000, 531,000 euros).

David Hockney’s 1990 painting of his Malibu home was auctioned off for 1.7 million pounds ($2 million, 1.9 million euros). It was last sold in 2010 for #508,000.

Overall, the auction achieved 118 million pounds ($143.6 million, 136.2 million euros) in sales, a 69 per cent increase on the previous year’s auction.

Christie’s, which held its own postwar and contemporary sales the previous day in London, managed a 96.3 million pound haul ($117.7 million, 117.1 million euros).