The Klimt sale was subject to a confidentiality agreement but family lawyer Steven Thomas confirmed it had exceeded the Picasso record.

The Neue Galerie, a New York museum of German and Austrian art, was co-founded by cosmetics mogul Ronald S Lauder.

Ms Bloch-Bauer's niece Maria Altmann, 90, said: "It was important for the heirs and for my aunt Adele that her work be displayed in a museum."

They were returned to Ms Altmann earlier this year after a protracted legal battle.

Ms Bloch-Bauer died in 1925, but her family was forced to flee Austria when the Nazis took power.

A 1998 law in Austria required museums to return art seized by the Nazis.

Austria believed it was entitled to the paintings because Ms Bloch-Bauer had specified in her will that her husband should donate the works to an Austrian gallery upon his death.

But Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer, who died in exile in 1945, wanted them to go to his family.

Arbitration

Ms Altmann filed legal action in the US in 2000 but the Austrian government repeatedly tried to have the case dismissed.

In 2004, the Supreme Court ruled in Ms Altmann's favour and, following arbitration, the Austrian government awarded all five paintings to Ms Altmann and her family in January.

Last year, the family received $21m (£12m) as part of a settlement to compensate victims of the Nazis.

The paintings will go on display at the Neue Galerie next month. Mr Lauder called it a "once-in-a-lifetime acquisition".

Born in 1862, Art Nouveau master Klimt is one of Austria's most celebrated painters. His renowned painting The Kiss (1908) hangs in the Belvedere gallery in Vienna.

BBC NEWS.