A month-long series of high-end, multi-million dollar auctions are underway in Hong Kong, the world's third-largest auction hub after New York and London. On Monday a Marc Chagall masterpiece became the most expensive painting by a modern Western artist ever sold at auction in Asia.

Seoul Auction's Modern & Contemporary Art Autumn Sale on October 4 at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong offered sixty superlative works by celebrated Western, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese artists. The sale achieved HK$78.52 million/ US$10.21 million.

The top lot, Bestiaire et Musique by Marc Chagall, sold for HK$32,172,000/ US$4,183,615 to an Asian buyer after heated competition. It set a new record for the highest price paid at auction in Asia for a modern Western artist.

This Chagall, with a provenance listing private collections in Germany and Japan, was appearing on the auction market for the first time. The painting is noted as a monumental work of his late period.

An Asian buyer won Le Modèle dans L’atelier by Pablo Picasso for K$18,172,000/US$2,363,069 after spirited bidding. After he married Jacqueline Roque in 1961, Picasso painted many works inspired by his young wife. This magnificent painting was painted in 1965, and the model seems to be Jacqueline.

The beautiful Vase de Fleurs by Impressionist master Pierre-Auguste Renoir fetched HK$4,152,000/US$539,922, selling to a Western collector. The work illustrates Renoir’s philosophy that art should be “pleasant, delightful and pretty”.