A Scottish painter has become one of world’s most successful living artists after one of his works was sold for nearly £6 million at Sotheby’s.

Peter Doig’s White Canoe, a monumental painting, changed hands for £5.73 million - five times its estimate - on Wednesday night. Sotheby’s described it as a phenomenal achievement, a record for a living European artist. The winning bidder remained anonymous.

The Edinburgh-born painter has become more expensive than British heavyweights such as David Hockney and Lucian Freud whose record is £4.15 million for Red-haired Man on a Chair. Hockney’s stands at £2.92 million for The Splash. Only the American artist Jasper Johns is thought to have earned more from a single sale.

Doig’s work was always expected to do well, because he is a sought-after artist, but there were murmurs of disbelief when bidding reached £3.2 million. His previous record was £1.12 million and this was a work he completed just after leaving Chelsea School of Art in the early 1990s.

Works by other big names, including Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, also went under the hammer during the sale, which raised a total of £45.76 million.

Seven works by Warhol fetched a total of £5.72 million. They included Self-Portrait (Fright Wig), for £1.47 million, and Hammer and Sickle, which fetched £1.53 million.

Doig, 47, was one of 11 contemporary artists whose records were broken that evening. Doig moved from Edinburgh to the Caribbean and Canada as a schoolboy before returning to Britain to study art. He is best known for his landscapes based on childhood scenes, and has now based himself in Trinidad and Tobago. One of his last major sales was in June last year, when his canvas Iron Hill was auctioned for a record then of £1.12 million. It followed an exhibition of his work by Charles Saatchi.

Francis Outred, Sotheby’s senior director, said that Doig was reaping rewards for sticking with painting when it went out of fashion in the 1990s. “He has been the flag bearer for painting,” he said.

Out on his own

- Won Whitechapel Artists Award in 1990; first museum presentation soon followed
- Won John Moores Foundation Prize in 1993 and was nominated for Turner Prize in 1994
- Large-scale landscapes and pastoral themes made him the odd one out in 1990s London dominated by Young British Artists 32 works in the Tate, including Ski Jacket, painting which shows influence of Canadian landscape
- Acid colours and a loose technique suggest comparisons with PostImpressionists

Source: Saatchi Gallery/Tate

Editor's choice

• Are Glasvegas the new Oasis?
• 50 most memorable moments
• Vote for musical perfection