NEW YORK (REUTERS).- Bolstered by strong results last year, leading auction houses are hoping sales in London next month will ride an art market recovery after the sharp decline that sent prices tumbling in 2009. Art experts at Sotheby’s said they are cautiously optimistic that works by Pablo Picasso, Frances Bacon and Salvador Dali, which are on display in New York this week, will set some new artist’s records at the Feb 10 sale in London. “There continues to be a very, very strong global demand for quality works, from collectors both established and new,” said Helena Newman, Sotheby’s’ European head of Impressionist and modern art. “That was very much in evidence in