£12.8m for a melon

A Cezanne watercolour from the later part of the artist's career has sold for more than $25.5m (£12.8m) at an art auction in New York.

Nature Morte au Melon Vert has set a record for the Impressionist painter for a composition on paper, according to auction house Sotheby's.

The sale, which made close to $280m (£140.7m), also featured two Picasso works, fetching a total of $30m (£15m).

Rival auction house Christie's is to sell Cezanne and Picasso works later.

Leading Sotheby's sale, along with the Cezanne still life, was Lyonel Feininger's Jesuits III, which was sold for $23.2m (£11.6m).

It is the second most lucrative sale in the history of the auction house.

Cezanne's work was sold on behalf of art collector Giuseppe Eskenazi, and was considered the artist's most important watercolour to remain in private hands.