Russian art breaks record at Sotheby’s

A painting by the Russian artist Arkhip Kuindzhi has sold for a record price – for the painter – of $US 3.1 million at a Sotheby's auction in New York. Earlier a pair of paintings by another Russian artist, Ivan Aivazovsky, sold for

Kuindzhi is a nineteenth-century Ukrainian-born landscape painter, who spent most of his time in Russia. The record-breaking picture named The Birch Grove dates from 1879.

Organisers say Russian art is becoming increasingly popular and fetching higher prices every year.

On Wednesday, the second day of the auction, contemporary Russian art again goes under the hammer.