Rare Van Gogh painting sold for $61 million

A rare piece of artwork painted by Vincent van Gogh weeks before his death sold for $61.8 million on Tuesday at a sale kicking off New York City's fall auctions of impressionist and modern art.

The 1890 painting, Still Life, Vase With Daisies and Poppies, had expected to fetch between $30 million and $50 million at Sotheby's evening sale in Manhattan.Van Gogh painted the bouquet of wildflowers at the French home of his physician, Dr Paul Gachet. It's one of the few works the Dutch artist sold during his lifetime. One of the founders of the Museum of Modern Art, A Conger Goodyear, acquired it in 1928. It remained in the family for decades and was on permanent exhibition at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo for 30 years. The most recent owner bought it around 1990.The auction record for a van Gogh is $82.5 million.