It may seem strange to describe an upcoming auction season expected to net some $1.6 billion as a sign of a quieter art market, but such is the state of the art world at this moment in time. Whereas in peak years, evening auction volumes were regularly and easily crossing the $2.5 billion mark, the pace of sales is decidedly more cautious and thoughtful. There may not be as many eight-figure trophy lots on deck, but that certainly doesn’t mean there won’t be fireworks.

We trawled through presale exhibitions and pored over online catalogues to find some of the most interesting artworks on offer this season, along with their colorful backstories. Read on for a roundup of some of our top picks.

Richard Prince, Nurse on Trial (2005)

Richard Prince, Nurse on Trial (2005). Image courtesy Sotheby’s.

Where: Sotheby’s The Now and Contemporary

When: Wednesday, November 20

Presale Estimate: $5 million to $7 million

The Backstory: Richard Prince’s “Nurse,” paintings which are based on covers of old pulp fiction novels, have had their share of ups and downs in the marketplace. Prices at auction took off in the mid-2000s, rising from the low millions to a spike of nearly $9 million, only to dip with the economic volatility that hit the art market in late 2008. At the time, one source told Artnet, the drop was so steep, one would be “lucky to get $750,000” for a Nurse.

Prices have since recovered, with the current record at $12.1 million, set at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in June 2021 for Runaway Nurse (2005) That same work previously sold at auction, at Christie’s in May 2016 for $9.7 million.

However the current work has been given a more conservative estimate that’s identical to the pricing when it last came to auction 10 years ago, in 2014, at Christie’s New York, where it sold for $5.7 million. The sale could provide a key test of where global demand for the Nurse paintings is now.

Willem de Kooning, Untitled XXV (1982)

Willem de Kooning Untitled XXV (1982). Image courtesy Sotheby’s.

Where: Sotheby’s The Now and Contemporary

When: Wednesday, November 20

Presale Estimate: $9 million to $12 million

The Backstory: This is one of roughly 30 known paintings that de Kooning completed in 1982, which Sotheby’s experts describe as his annus mirabilis. Today they are considered de Kooning’s best compositions from the 1980s. A sparse white background allows the peach, blue, and citrus colors to pop amid languorous black lines.

The auction house called this work “particularly striking in its elegantly refined yet suggestively alluring arrangement of color and form.” The work is fresh to the auction market with the consignor having acquired it nearly a quarter of a century ago, in 2000. Regardless of demand on the evening of the sale, it will sell, as it is backed by an irrevocable bid, also known as a third party guarantee.

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

Ed Ruscha, Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half (1964). © 2023 Edward Ruscha. Photo: Evie Marie Bishop. Courtesy of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Where: Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale

When: Thursday, November 21

Presale Estimate: In excess of $50 million.

The Backstory:  This powerhouse painting by Ed Ruscha clocks in as one of the most expensive of the season. Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half represents the synthesis and peak of Ruscha’s masterpieces of the early 1960s. Christie’s experts call it an icon of both Ruscha’s art, and the postwar era. This work comes from the esteemed collection of the Texas billionaire investor Sid Bass.

As Vanity Fair writer Mark Rozzo observed, over the course of several decades, Ruscha would regularly traverse the famous Route 66 back and forth from L.A. in order to visit his hometown of Oklahoma City. “Armed with his camera and a penchant for the banal, Ruscha documented the roadside gas stations that dotted his journey—eventually converting one of his modest black-and-white photographs into a dramatic sequence of paintings. Ruscha’s paintings of the Standard station defined the modern American landscape and contributed to the bold visual language of the 1960s,” according to Rozzo.

The work debuted the year it was created in a 1964 exhibition in Los Angeles’s famed Ferus Gallery, where it was purchased by Los Angeles collectors Anna and Donald Factor. It has since remained privately held in various prestigious collections, but has been shared and exhibited extensively, including as a centrepiece of the recent acclaimed Ruscha retrospective that was shown at MoMA in New York before traveling to LACMA.

The estimate puts it in potential record-breaking territory. The current auction record for a Ruscha painting at auction is $52.5 million, paid at Christie’s New York in 2019 for Hurting the Word Radio #2 also dated 1964.

Joan Mitchell, City Landscape (1955) and Untitled (1955)

Joan Mitchell, City Landscape (1955). Image courtesy of Christie’s Images, Ltd.

Where: Christie’s 20th Century Evening Sale

When: Thursday, November 21

Presale Estimate: $15 million to $20 million/ $9 million to $12 million/

The Backstory: This is a double lot highlight as Christie’s is offering two stellar Joan Mitchell abstract paintings from the collection of Rockefeller University. Fittingly proceeds from the sale will benefit biomedical research aimed at new treatments and cures for disease. The current record at auction for Mitchell is $29.1 million, set at Christie’s a year ago, in November 2023.

The market for Mitchell has been on the rise in the last decade and has been seeing intense demand. Rockefeller University president Richard Lifton acknowledged this in a statement saying:

“The two Mitchell paintings in our collection have appreciated in value to the point that their sale will have an enormous impact on Rockefeller’s mission of science for the benefit of humanity.  It is heartening to know that proceeds from the sale of the art that David Rockefeller so wisely helped the University acquire nearly seventy years ago will now fuel bold, risk-taking science—the surest route to medical breakthroughs in this golden age of biomedical discovery.”

Jackson Pollock, Untitled (ca. 1948)

Jackson Pollock, Untitled (ca. 1948). Image courtesy of Phillips.

Where: Phillips Modern and Contemporary Art Evening Sale

When: Monday, November 19

Presale Estimate: In excess of $13 million

The Backstory: The painting, which Phillips experts call “a stunning example” of the artist’s sought-after white on black drip paintings, is indeed a prime piece by the Abstract Expressionist painter. It was shown in the blockbuster 1998-1999 Pollock retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art which later traveled to the Tate in London. Prior to 1987, it was part of the collection of pioneering designer Florence Knoll and her husband Harry Hood Bassett, who acquired it directly from the artist himself. In July 1954, Knoll’s apartment was featured in Vogue magazine, with Untitled appearing twice in the multi-page photo spread.

Elizabeth Peyton, Kurt (Sunglasses) (1995)

Elizabeth Peyton, Kurt (Sunglasses) (1995). Image courtesy Phillips.

Where: Phillips Modern and Contemporary Art Evening Sale

When: Monday, November 19

Presale Estimate: $600,000 to $800,000

The Backstory: Elizabeth Peyton‘s portrait packs a double punch. Not only is it a prime example of the artist’s luminous portraits, it captures the essence of the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. Rendered with his famous mop of blonde hair and feminine lips, Cobain is every inch the rockstar clad in a fur collared coat and sunglasses. Peyton is famed for evoking “emotional depth through intimate depictions of larger-than-life figures,” including David Bowie, Prince William, and Barack Obama. It was consigned by renowned French collector Marcel Brient, who acquired it from dealer Gavin Brown the same year it was painted.