Lady Gaga portraits fetch over $1 million at auction

A series of 'video portraits' of Lady Gaga placed into familiar works of art raised over $1 million at auction over the weekend.

Avant-garde director Robert Wilson showcased his 23 Video Portraits of Lady Gaga series at his annual Watermill Center gala in the Hamptons at the weekend, and the controversial images - which included the 'Born this Way' singer as a beheaded John the Baptist and hanging tied-up and naked upside-down - were then sold off.

Guests at the gala included Kim Cattrall, Jay McInerney, Philip Glass and Lisa Anastos, and as well as the Gaga-themed showcase, they also enjoyed an after-party featuring a woman singing opera from a hole in the ground, naked performance artists roaming through the venue and director Jim Jarmush playing guitar, the New York Post newspaper reports.

The 23 Video Portraits of Lady Gaga - which was first shown at Paris' Louvre in November - saw Robert place the eccentric singer into several familiar paintings, replacing the original subjects.

Among the classic works of art he paid homage to were Jacques-Louis David's The Death of Marat and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres's Portrait of Mademoiselle Caroline Rivière.

The director recently spoke of his awe in the Poker Face singer for her "perfectionist" attitude and stunning "inner concentration".

He said: "An artist I've been dazzled by recently is Lady Gaga. She is highly disciplined and a perfectionist, and she has an inner concentration and beauty.

"She also speaks text brilliantly; her diction is perfect. I had her read text of the Marquis de Sade. She asked me how to do it, and I said, 'Fast, with 20 repeats of this line, five repeats of that.' Her ability to count and speak rapidly is astonishing."

The work will be displayed at the centre until September 14.