16 Auction Records Set in November 2025

New York’s marquee fall auction week is a key art market barometer—a week in which the major auction houses assemble their top-tier offerings and largest sales of the year.

Following an uneven May auction season in New York, this November’s sales have yielded renewed buoyancy and confidence in the market. By the end of the week, the major houses—Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Phillips—brought in more than $2 billion worth of art between them.

The week’s top lot was Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Elizabeth Lederer (ca. 1914–16), which sold for a staggering $236.36 million, the second-most-expensive price for an artwork ever paid at auction and a new record for the artist. The Klimt sale was part of an evening at Sotheby’s on November 18th, which brought in $706 million alone—the most expensive single-night total in the auction house’s history.

Indeed, the Klimt painting was one of a raft of sales that made new auction records across the week. New benchmarks were set for several women artists, particularly those associated with Surrealism, and names that mounted major solo exhibitions this year also sparked strong interest.

Here, we spotlight 16 new artist records set at auction from the week. All prices include fees.

Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Elizabeth Lederer, ca. 1914–16

Sold for $236.36 million (Estimate: $150 million)

Sotheby’s

The top lot from the week was also the most expensive artwork sold at auction since 2017: Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of Elizabeth Lederer (ca. 1914–16), which became the second-most-expensive artwork ever sold at auction. The work sold for $236.36 million at Sotheby’s as part of the Leonard A. Lauder collection on November 18th, smashing its $150 million estimate.

The six-foot-tall painting depicts Elisabeth Lederer, the Austrian heiress of Klimt’s leading patrons, in a Chinese robe. The Nazis seized the work after Austria’s annexation in 1939; however, it was saved and eventually landed in the hands of Elisabeth’s brother, Erich, in 1948. In 1985, it was acquired by American philanthropist Leonard A. Lauder, who kept it in his New York home until his passing last June.

Klimt’s previous auction record was held by Dame mit Fächer (1917), which sold for $108 million at Sotheby’s in 2023, the most expensive auction sale of that year. Two other Klimt works also sold for high eight-figure sums last week: Blumenwiese (Blooming Meadow) (ca. 1908) for $86 million and Waldabhang bei Unterach am Attersee (Forest Slope in Unterach on the Attersee) (1916) for $68 million.

Frida Kahlo, El sueño (La cama), 1940

Sold for $54,660,000 (Estimate: $40 million to $60 million)

Sotheby’s

Frida Kahlo’s El sueño (La cama) (1940) made history at Sotheby’s on November 20th when it became the most expensive artwork to sell at auction by a woman artist.

The self-portrait sold for $54.66 million, within its $40 million–$60 million estimate, following a five-minute bidding war during the Exquisite Corpus Surrealism sale.

The painting portrays the sleeping artist in a bed covered in vines and floating in the sky. Above Kahlo’s sleeping figure, a skeleton lies horizontally over the bed, wired with dynamite and holding a bouquet. This evocative portrait was created during a period of intense personal strife for the artist. The year before its creation, her ex-lover Leon Trotsky died, and the following year was marked by her divorce from Mexican artist Diego Rivera.

Kahlo’s previous auction record was set by another self-portrait in 2021, Diego and I (1949), which sold for $34.9 million at Sotheby’s New York. The previous auction record for a work by a woman artist is Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 (1932), which sold for $44 million ($60.5 million when adjusted for inflation) at Sotheby’s in 2014.

Cecily Brown, High Society, 1997–98

Sold for $9,810,000 (Estimate: $4 million to $6 million)

Sotheby’s

Cecily Brown’s High Society (1997–98)—a chromatic, kinetic painting that uses swirling flesh tones to create an amalgamation of bodies—sold for $9.81 million at Sotheby’s Now & Contemporary auction.

Named after the 1956 Bing Crosby–Grace Kelly musical, the painting transforms Hollywood polish into a pulsing tangle of limbs and color. A centerpiece of Brown’s breakthrough 1998 Deitch Projects shown in New York, High Society helped define the British artist’s new painterly language at the end of the ’90s. The painting is also part of the first body of work in which Brown dramatically expanded her scale; the canvas measures roughly 6-by-8-feet, marking her leap into a more immersive, physically imposing mode of abstraction.

Earlier this year, Brown was the subject of a major solo exhibition at the Barnes Foundation titled “Themes and Variations,” which closed in May. Brown’s previous record was set by Suddenly Last Summer (1999), which sold for $6.78 million at Sotheby’s New York in May 2018.

Sold for $3,222,000 (Estimate: $2 million to $3 million)

Sotheby’s

A new auction record was set for the American Surrealist artist Dorothea Tanning when Interior with Sudden Joy (1951) sold for $3.22 million at Sotheby’s on November 20th.

The work was created when Tanning was living with her husband, the artist Max Ernst, in Arizona. The painting depicts two young women in various stages of undress, a large dog modeled on the artist’s Lhasa Apso, Katchina, a twisting monumental white form, and an apparition holding a radiant bundle at the doorway. Chalk notations on the blackboard reference the French poet Arthur Rimbaud, including the word “Bruxelles.”

First exhibited in 1953 at Alexander Iolas in New York, the painting remained in the same private collection for over 40 years. The sale is another milestone in the rapidly growing interest in Tanning’s work as audiences and scholars increasingly recognize her innovative, psychologically rich explorations of feminism, desire, and the unconscious. Her auction record was broken earlier this year by Endgame (1944), which sold for $2.35 million at Christie’s in May. Before that, her auction record was held by Le mal oublié (1955), which sold for $1.44 million at Christie’s in 2022.

Sold for $3,125,000 (Estimate: $400,000 to $600,000)

Christie’s

Olga de Amaral’s shimmering textile landscape, Pueblo H (2011), sold for $3.12 million at Christie’s on November 19th, well over its $600,000 high estimate. The price for the work is well above Amaral’s previous record, for Imagen perdida 27 (1997), which sold for $1.16 million at Phillips New York in May.

The work is part of the Colombian artist’s “Pueblo” series, where shifting weave patterns create rippling volume and suggest a metaphorical landscape. Made from linen, gesso, acrylic, Japanese paper, and gold leaf, the tapestry measures 3-by-6.5-feet. De Amaral first incorporated gold into her work around 1970, inspired by the kintsugi repairs of sculptor Lucie Rie. “For me, gold is the sun,” she said in a studio walkthrough with Christie’s in 2020.

De Amaral’s market is experiencing a sharp incline buoyed by increased recognition across the art world. Since 2020, the 93-year-old artist has mounted solo exhibitions with Lisson Gallery in London and New York, been featured in a U.S. retrospective, participated in the 2024 Venice Biennale, and presented a major solo exhibition at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, which closed on March 16th.

Leonor Fini, Dans la tour (Autoportrait avec Constantin Jeleński), 1952

Sold for $2,515,000 (Estimate: $2 million to $3 million)

Sotheby’s

A rare double portrait by Leonor Fini, depicting her with her lover Constantin Jeleński, sold for $2.51 million at Christie’s on November 17th. Dans la tour (Autoportrait avec Constantin Jeleński) (1952) surpassed the artist’s previous record, held by Autoportrait au scorpion (1938), which sold for $2.32 million at Sotheby’s in 2021.

The Argentine Italian painter, designer, and writer has risen as renewed attention to women Surrealists highlights her fiercely independent vision and boundary-pushing portrayals of feminine power.

Painted shortly after Fini and Constantin “Kot” Jeleński met in 1951, Dans la tour (Autoportrait avec Constantin Jeleński) shows the pair walking inside the Torre San Lorenzo on West Italy’s Latium coast. It is one of the few paintings in which Fini portrays herself with Jeleński. The composition includes Fini in a long gown and Jeleński nude, draped with a red Baroque cape, rendered with her characteristically meticulous brushwork.

Noah Davis, The Casting Call, 2008

Sold for $2,002,000 (Estimate: $1 million to $1.5 million)

Sotheby’s

Widely regarded as one of Noah Davis’s masterpieces, The Casting Call (2008) sold for $2 million at Sotheby’s on November 18th, surpassing its $1.5 million high estimate. The artist’s previous auction record, for Congo #7 (2014), sold for $1.5 million at Christie’s in 2022.

Davis, who passed away in 2015, was an American painter and installation artist best known for his evocative portrayals of everyday Black life and for co-founding the free, community-focused Underground Museum in Los Angeles.

The painting depicts a group of women in a fluorescent-lit interior, some in white costumes and others topless or nude, arranged in a loose lineup as they perform for an unseen audience. One figure at the right stands with her arms at her sides and a downcast expression, interrupting the group’s synchronicity.

The largest retrospective of Davis to date has traveled over the past year from DAS MINSK Kunsthaus in Potsdam, Germany, the Barbican in London, and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. The show will move to the Philadelphia Art Museum in 2026.

Sold for $1,524,000 (Estimate: $500,000 to $700,000)

Christie’s

Beauford Delaney’s portrait of his close friend, the writer James Baldwin, The Sage Black (1967), sold for $1.52 million at Christie’s on November 17th, more than doubling its high estimate of $700,000.

This work is one of about 12 identified portraits the late artist made of Baldwin. The two met when Delaney was 15 and maintained a lifelong friendship. This canvas covers Baldwin’s face in rounded strokes of red, green, ocher, yellow, and periwinkle blue. This is one of the most expressive portraits by Delaney, an artist who was associated with the Harlem Renaissance but was overlooked in his lifetime.

Another portrait of Baldwin, titled simply James Baldwin (1966), held the artist’s previous auction record. It sold for $911,900 at Christie’s in 2022.

Firelei Báez, Untitled (Colonization in America, Visual History Wall Map, Prepared by Civic Education Service), 2021

Sold for $1,111,250 (Estimate: $150,000 to $200,000)

Christie’s

At Christie’s 21st century sale on November 19th, Firelei Báez’s Untitled (Colonization in America, Visual History Wall Map, Prepared by Civic Education Service) (2021) sold for $1.11 million, more than five times its high estimate of $200,000. The work is a monumental, nine-foot painting in which Báez paints dense constellations of feathers over a 1966 didactic map of North American colonization.

Known for her vibrant installations that reimagine Afro Caribbean histories and mythologies, Báez is the subject of a traveling exhibition at MCA Chicago which opened on November 15th. The show is organized by ICA Boston and first opened at the Des Moines Art Center, running from June 14th to September 21st.

Earlier in the day of the record sale, Báez’s record was broken at Phillips, when Daughter of Revolutions (2014) sold for $645,000. Before that, her auction record was set in 2024, when Josephine Judas GOAT (it does not disturb me to accept that there are places where my identity is obscure to me, and the fact that it amazes you does not mean I relinquish it) (2017) sold for $567,000 at Christie’s New York.

Sold for $1,016,000 (Estimate: $350,000–$450,000)

Sotheby’s

Austrian Surrealist Wolfgang Paalen’s painting Fata Alaska (1937), portraying a chaotic subterranean world beneath an icy landscape, sold for $1.06 million at Sotheby’s Exquisite Corpus Surrealist auction. This work far exceeded the artist’s previous auction record set by Taches solaires (1938), which sold for $911,100 at Christie’s in 2023.

Paalen, who passed away in 1959, was an Austrian Mexican Surrealist artist, theorist, and writer who had a strong influence on postwar abstraction. There is no evidence that Paalen visited Alaska before creating Fata Alaska, but, according to the auction house, his choice of setting was inspired more by the psychological implications. To create this work, Paalen used the fumage technique he pioneered in 1936, in which the soot from a lit candle or kerosene lamp was placed near the canvas to create smoky trails.

Antonio Obá, Alvorada – Música Incidental Black Bird, 2020

Sold for $1,016,000 (Estimate: $100,000 to $150,000)

Sotheby’s

Antonio Obá’s Alvorada – Música Incidental Black Bird (2020) sold at Sotheby’s for $1.01 million on November 18th, nearly seven times its high estimate. This sale topped the Brazilian artist’s previous record, set by Sankofa – Figura Com Alpargata (2020), which sold for $228,600 at Sotheby’s last year.

Born in Brazil in 1983, Obá is recognized for his multimedia practice, which explores Afro Brazilian identity, the body, spirituality, and colonial legacies.

The painting depicts a solitary man walking along a riverbank, tilting his head upward as he consumes a raw egg. The egg is a motif drawn from Obá’s family tradition, linking the act to strengthening the voice for spiritual song. The work illustrated the artist’s 2022 monograph and was featured in his mid-career survey at the Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève.

Sold for $942,000 (Estimate: $300,000 to $400,000)

Sotheby’s

Hans Bellmer’s auction record was set twice on the same night, with Les Bas rayés (1959) selling for $942,000 after Mains et bras (ca.1950–52) sold for $508,000 earlier that evening.

The work, which sold during Sotheby’s Exquisite Corpus sale on November 20th, is a rare oil painting by the late German artist, who was best known for his unsettling life-size doll sculptures and photographs.

The work features two sets of legs with stockings. These fragmented body parts were influenced by his association with French philosopher Georges Bataille. The legs motif first started in Bellmer’s “Céphalopode” series, which was inspired by creatures with bilateral symmetry. It also draws from photographs the artist took of his partner, the writer Unica Zürn.

The artist’s record before the evening was held by Milles filles (1939), sold at Sotheby’s in September for $414,700.

Robert Alice, Block 1 (24.9472° N, 118.5979° E), 2019–22

Sold for $762,000 (Estimate: $600,000 to $800,000)

Sotheby’s

Part of the 40-painting series “Portraits of a Mind,” Robert Alice’s Block 1 (24.9472° N, 118.5979° E) (2019–22) sold for $762,000 at Sotheby’s Now & Contemporary auction on November 18th.

The work, made from 24-karat gold leaf, suspended pigment, and acrylic, contains 322,048 hand-painted hexadecimal digits from a Bitcoin codebase micro-engraved onto a circular panel. Select digits are inscribed in gold to mark geographic coordinates—here pointing to Mount Qingyuan, the site of the ancient statue of Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu.

Alice, a London-based conceptual artist known for pioneering blockchain-inspired art, is one of the earliest artists to create a major project that engages with the history of Bitcoin with the “Portraits of a Mind” series. Another work from this series held the record until now, Block 34 (51.895167° N, 1.4805° E) (2019), which sold for $642,300 at Sotheby’s in 2022.

Sold for $711,200 (Estimate: $80,000 to $120,000)

Sotheby’s

Standing at over eight feet tall, Yu Nishimura’s painting thicket (2020) sold for $711,200 at Sotheby’s Now & Contemporary auction on November 18th. This work was the centerpiece of the artist’s 2020 solo exhibition, “Scene of Beholder,” at Crevecoeur, Paris. This work depicts a figure partially turned away among pale tree trunks. It is rendered through layered veils of leaves.

Born in Japan in 1982, Nishimura paints layered works that draw on street photography, anime, and landscapes. The artist’s previous auction record was held by across the place (2023), which sold for $406,400 at Sotheby’s this May.

Joan Brown, After the Alcatraz Swim #2, 1975

Sold for $596,000 (Estimate: $200,000–$300,000)

Christie’s

Inspired by a near-death experience, Joan Brown’s painting After the Alcatraz Swim #2 (1975) achieved $596,000 at Christie’s 21st century evening sale on November 19th. The artist’s previous auction record was set by The Kiss (1976), which sold for $475,000 at French auction house Tajan in 2023.

Brown, who passed away in 1990, was an American Bay Area painter known for her bold autobiographical works blending expressive color, symbolism, and everyday life with spiritual introspection.

After the Alcatraz Swim #2 was conceptualized when Brown participated in the all-women’s Alcatraz Swim from Alcatraz Island to Aquatic Park. During the swim, a boat passed, creating treacherous currents that nearly drowned the artist. This mise en abyme (placed into abyss) work features a self-portrait of the artist standing next to a canvas depicting the near-fatal experience. This is part of a series of paintings made about the experience.

Jess, Fig. 6–A Lamb for Pylaochos: Herko, N.Y. ’64: Translation #16, 1966

Sold for $546,100 (Estimate: $120,000 to $180,000)

Sotheby’s