A major work by the French painter Henri Matisse sold for a record $40.6 million on Monday as the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent's art collection was auctioned in Paris.

Bids for the collection hit $261.5 million on Monday, making it the most expensive private art collection ever auctioned, with two days still left to run.

Six world record bids for works by major modern artists, and dozens of lesser sales, confirmed the global reputation of the collection amassed over half a century by Saint Laurent and his lifelong companion, Pierre Bergé.

Works by artists including Piet Mondrian, the Dutch abstract painter, Constantin Brancusi, the Romanian sculptor, and Marcel Duchamp, the French innovator, earned record sums, well above earlier estimates.

By contrast, the much-anticipated Pablo Picasso work "Musical Instruments on a Table" flopped. Bidding fell short of the 25 million euro guide price, the biggest in the collection, and the piece was withdrawn unsold.