Matisse's Odalisque Couchée aux Magnolias sold for $81 million, helping the Rockefeller collection become the most valuable private sale

An art collection amassed by a scion of the Rockefeller dynasty became the most valuable estate ever sold at auction last night, raising £476 million and smashing a record set by that of the late Yves Saint Laurent in 2009.

A Picasso that decorated David and Peggy Rockefeller’s Manhattan townhouse sold for $115 million, and a later painting from Claude Monet’s Water Lilies series, which had hung in a stairwell of another of their houses, raised $85 million.

Christie’s said seven paintings in the sale had broken auction records for their respective artists and predicted that a further $50 million would be raised in day and evening sales this week.

Picasso’s Girl With a Basket of Flowers, first sold by the artist for 75 francs, went for $115 million CHRISTIE’S/AP

The auction catalogue promised buyers the chance to “Live Like A Rockefeller” — a lifestyle