Van Gogh's work is highly prized among collectors

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A painting by Vincent Van Gogh has been sold for $49m - a world record for a work of art.

The final price was more than twice what the painting, called Irises, had been expected to reach.

The anonymous purchaser must also pay a 10% commission fee to the auction house, Sotheby's, bringing the total to $53.9m.

The sale was also accomplished in what may have been a record time given the figures involved - the bidding rose from the starting point of $15m to reach the final sale price in less than two minutes.

Irises depicts the garden of the Saint-Remy mental asylum in France where Van Gogh was a patient.

It was painted in 1889, a few months before the artist committed suicide aged 37.

The previous record for a painting was set in March by another Van Gogh masterpiece, Sunflowers.

It was bought in London for just under $40m by a Japanese insurance company.

Traditionally art prices have reflected the state of the economy so in the wake of a stock market crash Irises had not been expected to fetch such a huge sum.

Sotheby's North America chairman John Marion said the sale proved the art world was "alive and well".

"This painting was beyond the stock market. It transcended the stock market. There just is no other opportunity to buy a painting like this," Mr Marion said.

Irises had been owned by John Whitney Payson, the heir to one of America's biggest fortunes.

His mother, Joan, bought it for $80,000 in 1947, and hung it over the fireplace in her living room.

After her death in 1975, the painting was displayed in a gallery Mr Payson built in his mother's memory.

He said he decided to sell it after the record-breaking Sunflowers auction because he felt he could not guarantee the safety of a painting potentially worth $40m or more.   

The various factions held separate independence ceremonies

The leader of one of the country's rival factions, Dr Agostinho Neto, of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), has been proclaimed the country's first president.

In the capital, Luanda, huge crowds cheered and soldiers fired shots into the air as the new country's flag was raised at midnight.

However, the main groups vying for power held separate independence ceremonies.

The MPLA held a huge ceremony at a stadium in the capital, Luanda, attended by a representative from the Soviet Union.

In a speech, Dr Neto was critical of the Portuguese for not recognising the MPLA as the "sole legitimate representative" of the Angolan people.

Meanwhile, the rival Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) announced it had joined forces with another liberation movement to form a national council which would act as Angola's government.

Angola's independence ends nearly 500 years of Portuguese rule.

Initially the Portuguese used Angola as a "slave pool" for its morelucrativecolony in Brazil and mined Angola's precious gemstones and metals.

Resistance to Portuguese rule was widespread by the mid-20th century but was complicated by clashes between the various African communities.

lucrative: producing a good profit（有利的）