NEW YORK, NY.- Last night, at Sotheby’s inaugural sale in New York’s historic Breuer Building, the Leonard A. Lauder Collection – a once-in-a-generation collection of 20th-century masterpieces – achieved $527.5m, eclipsing its estimate ($379.2 - 412.5m), and announcing Sotheby's arrival at the Breuer in spectacular fashion.

The white-glove sale was led by Gustav Klimt’s towering masterpiece, Bildnis Elisabeth Lederer (Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer), 1914-16, which, over the course of a twenty minute bidding battle between 6 collectors, far-outstripped pre-sale expectations of $150m, doubling the previous record for the artist, and selling to applause at $236.4m. The painting now takes its place as the most valuable work by Klimt ever sold at auction, the most valuable work of art ever sold by Sotheby’s, and the second most valuable work of art ever sold at auction.

The sale of the portrait was swiftly followed by that of two further Klimt masterpieces landscapes of the artist’s beloved summer retreat Attersee – Blumenwiese (Blooming Meadow) (c. 1908), expected to realise in excess of $80m, sold for $86m and Waldabhang bei Unteracham Attersee (Forest Slope in Unterach on the Attersee) (1916), sold for $68.3m to Patti Wong,of Patti Wong & Associates. Two pencil-on-paper studies by Klimt also surpassed expectations, taking the total for the artist tonight to over $391,683,300.

Edvard Munch’s Sankthansnatt (Midsummer Night), capturing the shimmering Nordic light on the road into Åsgårdstrand, Oslo, which inspired so many of his greatest works, sold - after a 7 minute bidding battle - for$35.1m directly underbid by Patti Wong, of Patti Wong & Associates (est. $20-30m).

A 10-minute bidding battle drove Agnes Martin's, canvas The Garden beyond estimate to $17.6m. The painting was last publicly exhibited in the artist’s landmark 1992 retrospective organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art at the Breuer Building – the venue for tonight’s auction.

An unprecedented group of six important Matisse bronzes was met with strong demand, realizing a combined total of $49m surpassing the pre-sale estimate ($30.8 m- $42.6 m). The group was led by the rare masterpiece Figure décorative, which sold for $16.71m, becoming the second highest price of a Matisse bronze. Meanwhile, La Serpentine, sold at an above estimate $16.7m.

Vincent Van Gogh’s Le Semeur dans un champde blé au soleil couchant - a powerful drawing in pen and reed in which a rich concentration of strokes, dots and lines come together in explosive fashion - sold for $11.2m, the highest price ever achieved at auction for a work by the artist executed purely in pen and ink.