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Manet painting sells for $70 million in NY

An 1881 masterpiece by Edouard Manet has sold for $US65 million ($A70.3 million) at auction in New York, setting a record for a work by the French impressionist.

Le Printemps, which the auction house Christie’s had valued at $US25 million to $US30 million, depicts a famous actress of the day and was exhibited to critical acclaim in 1882, when Manet was one of the most famous living artists.

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The canvas has been owned by the same family for more than a century and for the last 20 years been on loan to the National Gallery of Art in Washington.

It was snapped up by a buyer in the front row who calmly fended off furious bidding on the telephone to clinch the picture for $US65.13 million.

The previous auction record for a work of art by Manet was $US33 million – a self-portrait sold in 2010 at Sotheby’s in London.

Christie’s also sold Les Constructeurs Avec Arbre by French cubist painter Fernand Leger for $US17.53 million after much slower bidding.

The auction house had valued the painting at up to $US22 million.

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