Picasso painting of his lover as a sea creature sells for $67.5m at New York auction

Femme nue Couchee among works by Monet, Cezanne, Gauguin and others to go under hammer for total $166m

Paintings by three titans of modern art have sold for a total of almost $166m (134m) at auction, confirming the buoyancy of the global market.

In a sale of modern art at Sotheby's in New York on Tuesday evening, a total of more than $408m was paid for works by artists including Picasso, Monet, Cezanne, Gauguin, Magritte, Dali and Renoir.