Angelina Jolie's Winston Churchill painting breaks art records at auction

Angelina Jolie is winning in the art world after selling her Winston Churchill painting for almost $11.6 million (£8.3 million) at auction.

Christie's bosses sold Churchill's landscape of Marrakech, Morocco, on Monday, scoring a new record for a Churchill original, with the piece, titled Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque, beating the previous record of $2.3 million ($1.7 million) in 2014.

The artwork, which is believed to be the only painting the former British Prime Minister made during World War II, had been estimated to sell for $3.5 million (£2.5 million).

"Churchill first visited Morocco in 1935 where he fell in love with the quality of light there," said Nick Orchard, head of modern British art at Christie's in London, where the auction was held. "He felt that his paintings of the country were among his best."

According to CNN, Brad Pitt bought the sunset scene as a gift to his then-partner Jolie in 2011. The pair split in 2016 two years after tying the knot.

Reports suggest Churchill painted the landscape after the January 1943 Casablanca Conference in Morocco, and gave it to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a gift.

The painting was sold by Roosevelt's son in 1945.