A three-panel work by Francis Bacon has broken the artist’s record at auction selling for more than $86 million after three bidders vied for it, Sotheby's spokeswoman Lauren Gioia said.

The $86,281,000 price for “Triptych, 1976” also broke a record for contemporary art auctions, a spokesman for the auction house said. The identity of the buyers hasn’t been revealed.

“Triptych, 1976” is one of the most important works of Francis Bacon and a landmark of the 20^th century canon. The artist, who died from a heart attack in 1992 at 82, is considered one of Britain’s most important 20^th century artists. The previous auction record for a Bacon work was $52.7 million, for his “Study for Innocent X, 1952,” sold at Sotheby's last May, the Associated Press noted.

The work was described as a “totemic triptych.” “It created an overnight sensation when it was first exhibited in Paris in 1976,” Alex Branczik, Sotheby's London deputy director for contemporary art, was quoted as saying by BBC News.

“It showed Bacon working in a new way. It is a watershed painting which sees him moving beyond personal grief on to a more universal scale.”

A Claude Monet painting, entitled “Le Pont du chemin de fer a Argenteuil,” was sold earlier this month at Christy’s for more than $41 million, breaking the auction record for the French Impressionist artist. Another success was Henri Matisse’s 1935 “Portrait au manteau bleu,” sold for $22.4 million.