New York- A painting by Francis Bacon of his friend and fellow artist Lucian Freud has become the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction fetching $142m (£89m, 106m euros) in New York.

The triptych, Three Studies of Lucian Freud (1969), is considered one of Bacon's greatest masterpieces.

According to Christie's auction house, the painting was sold to an undisclosed buyer after six minutes of fierce bidding. The price overshadowed the $119.9m (£74m) paid for Edvard Munch's The Scream last year.

It was the first time Three Studies of Lucian Freud had been offered at auction and bidding opened at $80m (£50m, 60m euros). Its presale estimate was $85m (£53m, 64m euros).

Bacon, known for his triptychs, painted Three Studies of Lucian Freud in 1969 at London's Royal College of Art, after his studio was destroyed in a fire.

Francis Outred, head of Post-War and Contemporary Art at Christie's Europe, said the work was "a true masterpiece and one of the greatest paintings to come up for auction in a current generation".

"It marks Bacon and Freud's relationship, paying tribute to the creative and emotional kinship between the two artists," he added.