A self-portrait by the Dutch Impressionist painter, Vincent Van Gogh, has sold in auction in New York for more than seventy-one-million dollars.

The price is the third-highest ever paid in auction for a work of art.

The painting -- "Portrait of the Artist Without His Beard" -- was completed shortly before his death, as a birthday present for his mother, while Van Gogh was in an asylum.

It was sold by the firm, Christie's, as part of an extensive auction of modern art.