A blockbuster auction of Contemporary art in New York — including a record $58.4m (€45.1m) for a Jackson Pollock drip painting — fetched nearly half a billion dollars — the biggest haul ever at an art auction.

LUCIAN FREUD, a towering and uncompromising figure in the art world for more than 50 years, has died, his New York-based art dealer said yesterday. He was 88.