Each month at Artnet Pro, we tap the Artnet Price Database to examine the 10 priciest lots that told the previous month. Sometimes, there are surprises, with the appearance of works that performed well but did not quite headlines when they originally sold. (Here are the top lots from this past November.)

As the year closes, let’s take a look back at the top 10 of 2024, below. The list offers a snapshot of the present market: Only one work cracked nine figures, a reflection of the more cautious atmosphere. (Two achieved that last year.) Top-flight Impressionist and Surrealist works did well. All 10 works were made by men. Seven of them sold in New York (and four of them sold in November in the city), but Hong Kong, London, and even Vienna each managed to grab a spot .

Read on to find out what sold big—and why.

René Magritte, L’Empire de Lumières (1954)

Rene Magritte, L’empire des Lumières (1954). Photo: Christie’s.

Estimate: $95 million

Sale Price: $121.2 million

Where & When: Christie’s New York, November 19, 2024

What to Know: The luster of this iconic Magritte was enhanced by its provenance: It was in the collection of tastemaker Mica Ertegun for over 50 years. Its $121.2 million price was a new auction record for the Belgian artist. It was the only painting to break the $100 million threshold at auction this year. As my colleague Katya Kazakina noted, the price was far above the $79.8 million that was paid for a 1961 version of L’Empire des Lumières at Sotheby’s in 2022. That is about $86.7 million, adjusted for inflation.

Ed Ruscha, Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half (1964)

Ed Ruscha’s Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half (1964), which will be offered with an on-request estimate of around $50 million. Courtesy of Christie’s,

Estimate:  $50 million

Sale Price: $68.3 million

Where & When: Christie’s New York, November 19, 2024

What to Know: This key Ruscha was consigned by the billionaire financier Sid Bass, as Kelly Crow reported in the Wall Street Journal. It’s a pristine work from one of the artist’s most important series; Mark Rozzo has said that Ruscha’s “Standard Station” works “defined the modern American landscape and contributed to the bold visual language of the 1960s.” The winning bidder, who remains anonymous, apparently agreed.

Claude Monet, Nymphéas (1914–17)

Claude Monet, Nymphéas (1914–17) from the collection of Sydell Miller. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.

Estimate:  $60 million

Sale Price: $65.5 million

Where & When: Sotheby’s New York, November 18, 2024

What to Know:  This classic Monet painting of waterlilies, one of the artist’s most famous subjects, was the jewel of the collection of beauty-industry mogul Sydell Miller. Sotheby’s built an elaborate presale display for the  collection at its York Avenue headquarters. The house also marketed and toured the collection around the world. Its efforts paid off.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled (ELMAR) (1982)

Jean-Michel Basquiat,Untitled (ELMAR) (1982).Courtesy of Phillips.

Estimate: $40 million to $60 million

Sale Price: $46.4 million

Where & When: Phillips New York, May 14, 2024

What to Know:  The nearly eight-foot-wide Untitled [Elmar] was one of the most-talked-about works in the big May auctions in New York. Hailing from the collection of writer Francesco Pellizzi, the painting is rich with symbology and includes Basquiat’s mysterious soaring bird motif, adorned with a crown of thorns. It harkens back to the artist’s early years in graffiti while also showing his deep knowledge of art history. The year it was made, 1982, is generally accepted as the highpoint in Basquiat’s career.

René Magritte, L’Ami Intime (1958)

René Magritte, L’Ami Intime (The Intimate Friend), 1958. Photo: Courtesy of the Gilbert and Lena Kaplan Collection and Christie’s London.

Estimate: $38 million to $63.6 million (£30 million to £50 million)

Sale Price: $42.7 million (£33.6 million)

Where & When: Christie’s London, March 7, 2024

What to Know:  The fervor for all things Magritte continues. According to Christie’s, work from “this period that has now come to be regarded as a defining era in Magritte’s oeuvre—the one in which he was to create many of his most famous and best-loved works.” The piece had not been on the market since 1980, which increased its desirability.

Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Fräulein Lieser (1917)

Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Fräulein Lieser (1917) (detail). Photo: © Auktionshaus im Kinsky GmbH, Vienna.

Estimate: $32.5 million to $55 million (€30 million to €50 million)

Sale Price: $32 million (€35 million)

Where & When: Im Kinsky Vienna, April 24, 2024

What to Know:  This portrait, which had been unseen for a century, sold in Vienna at Im Kinsky to a buyer from Hong Kong, bidding via Hong Kong advisory firm Patti Wong and Associates. (Wong is a former chairman of Sotheby’s Asia.) Before the April sale, the small auction house’s highest-ever price was $6.1 million, for an Egon Schiele artwork. The price is the highest ever recorded at an Austrian auction house. As Artnet reported, experts disagree on the identity of the sitter, but she is known to have come from the Lieser family of wealthy Jewish industrialists. The painting was found partially finished in the artist’s studio when he died in 1918, and was given to the Lieser family. The fräulein in question may have been one of two daughters of Henriette Lieser: either Helene, who would go on to become an economist, or Annie, who achieved renown as a dancer. Henriette Lieser was a major patron of the avant-garde in Vienna. Deported by the Nazis, she was killed at Auschwitz in 1943.

Andy Warhol, Flowers (1964)

Andy Warhol’s Flowers (1964). Photo courtesy Christie’s.

Estimate:  $20 million to $30 million

Sale Price: $35.5 million

Where & When: Christie’s New York, May 16, 2024

What to Know:  Warhol’s flower paintings are among his signature works: highly bankable material.

Claude Monet, Meules à Giverny  (1893)

Claude Monet, Meules a Giverny. Courtesy of Sothebys.

Estimate:  $30 million

Sale Price: $34.8 million

Where & When: Sotheby’s New York, May 16, 2024

What to Know: It was in the fields near his home in Giverny, France, that Monet found inspiration for his famous haystacks. Since not every village had its own thresher, the wait for one of the traveling machines could take months. Grain cut in the summer might sit in its cone-shaped stack for months, which Monet took full advantage of. As Sotheby’s catalogue notes, the artist set up his easel in the meadow “just to the south of the site of his future water-lily pond and painted Meules à Giverny.” This work was relatively fresh to market, having been sold privately in 2001 and at auction in 1983 at Christie’s New York.

Vincent van Gogh, Coin de Jardin avec Papillons (1887)

Vincent van Gogh,Coin de jardin avec papillons. Courtesy of Christies.

Estimate:  $28 million to $35 million

Sale Price: $33 million

Where & When: Christie’s New York, May 16, 2024

What to Know: This jewel-like Van Gogh, which was hung and lighted to perfection at Christie’s Rockefeller Center, seemed familiar when I saw it this spring. Why? Because it failed to sell six years ago, in 2018, when Christie’s offered it “in the region of $40 million.” This time, it was backed by a third-party guarantee.

Mark Rothko, Untitled (Blue and Yellow), 1954

Mark Rothko, Untitled (Yellow and Blue), 1954, on view at Sotheby’s Maison in Hong Kong. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.

Estimate:  $29 million to $35 million (HK$225 million to $275 million)

Sale Price: $32.5 million (HK$ 252.5 million)

Where & When: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, November 11, 2024

What to Know:  This marked the first time a major Rothko work was offered at auction in Asia. Sotheby’s backed the work and also secured an irrevocable bid (a bid from a third party). The final price nonetheless marked a substantial drop in value: The same work was offered at Sotheby’s New York in May 2015, when it hauled in $46.4 million including premium, according to the Artnet Price Database. That’s a 30-percent loss on investment (without even figuring in inflation and other fees).