Berthe Morisot's Apres le dejeuner has set a new world record for a female artist at auction.

Berthe Morisot married Edouard Manet's brother, Eugene

The 1881 work sold for £7.0m ($11.0m) at Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale in London last night (February 6).

In doing so, the Frenchwoman's oil on canvas narrowly beat the previous record of £5.5m ($10.9m), set by Natalia Goncharova's circa 1912 work Les Fleurs, at Christie's in 2008.

The sale represents a rise of 8.0% pa in value for the work, which last auctioned in May 1997 at Christie's New York for $3.3m.

The majority of the world's most valuable paintings have been painted by men. Could this sale spark a redressing of the balance?

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