This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

A prized 1963 Andy Warhol painting that captures the immediate aftermath of a car crash has fetched $105m (£65m) at a Sotheby's auction in New York City on Wednesday, shattering the record for the pop artist amid a spending frenzy at the high end of the art world.

The 8ft by 13ft painting, titled Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster), depicts a twisted body sprawled across a car's mangled interior. It has only been seen once in public in the past 26 years.

The previous Warhol auction record was set in 2007 when Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I) sold for $71.7m.

Another famous Warhol work, Coca-Cola (3), sold for $57.2m on Tuesday at Christie's, and his portrait of Elizabeth Taylor titled Liz #1 (Early Colored Liz) sold for $20m on Wednesday.

A Willem de Kooning abstract painting in red, yellow and white, called Untitled V and not seen in public since 1980, sold for $24.8m on Wednesday. The sale fell short of the record for the artist's works, set on Tuesday at Christie's with the sale of his Untitled VIII from 1977.

None of the buyers on Wednesday were identified.

The Warhol record came just a day after the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction went for $142.4m to conclude six minutes of feverish bidding at Christie's. The hefty price tag for a 1967 Francis Bacon triptych called Three Studies of Lucian Freud shattered the previous world record – nearly $120m, paid for Edvard Munch's The Scream at a 2012 Sotheby's sale.

Christie's said the winning bid went to New York City's Acquavella Galleries. It is believed that the gallery was buying it for an unidentified client.

Over the past 10 days, auction houses around the world have presided over bids totaling nearly $2bn for art and jewellery, Sotheby's said. Christie's said Tuesday's sale brought in more than $691.5m, the highest total for any single auction in history.

Buyers from Asia, the Middle East and Russia play a big role in the contemporary art market, said Richard Feigen, an art dealer and collector.

"The demand for seminal works by historically important artists is truly unquestionable, and we will keep witnessing new records being broken," said Michael Frahm, a contemporary art adviser. "This is the ultimate trophy hunting."