ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

New York November Auctions: $1.2B in Sales, Mica Ertegun and Sydell Miller Collections Lead

market-auction · 2026-04-26

The upcoming auction season in New York this November is anticipated to yield approximately $1.2 billion, a decrease from the $1.8 billion recorded in 2023, attributed to a reduced number of lots and cautious projections. Sotheby's kicks off on November 18 with the Sydell Miller collection, valued at $200 million, which includes Monet's Nymphéas ($60 million), Picasso's La Statuaire, and Kandinsky's Weisses Oval ($15-20 million). Following this, the Modern Evening Auction will take place, alongside The Now and Contemporary Evening Auction on November 20, which will showcase Cattelan's Comedian. Christie's will feature Mica: The Collection of Mica Ertegun on November 19, highlighting Magritte's L'empire des lumières ($95 million). Additionally, the 21st Century Evening Sale on November 21 will present Basquiat's Untitled ($20-30 million), while Phillips will conduct its Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale on November 19.

Key facts

  • Aggregate expected value of November New York auctions is $1.2 billion, down from $1.8 billion in 2023.
  • Sotheby's Sydell Miller collection sale on November 18 estimated at $200 million.
  • Claude Monet's Nymphéas (1914-17) estimated at ~$60 million.
  • Christie's Mica Ertegun collection includes Magritte's L'empire des lumières (1954) estimated at $95 million.
  • Ed Ruscha's Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half from Sid Bass collection estimated at $50 million.
  • Phillips features Elizabeth Peyton's Kurt (sunglasses) (1995) from Marcel Brient collection, estimated $600,000-800,000.
  • Maurizio Cattelan's Comedian debuts at auction at Sotheby's on November 20.
  • Jean-Michel Basquiat's Untitled (1982) estimated at $20-30 million at Christie's.
  • Alighiero Boetti's Mappa (1989) estimated at $2.5-3.5 million at Phillips.
  • Sydell Miller died in February 2024; Mica Ertegun was a Romanian-born interior designer and philanthropist.

Entities

Artists

  • Claude Monet
  • Pablo Picasso
  • Wassily Kandinsky
  • Claude Lalanne
  • François-Xavier Lalanne
  • Maurizio Cattelan
  • René Magritte
  • Ed Ruscha
  • Jean-Michel Basquiat
  • Jeff Koons
  • Cecily Brown
  • Elizabeth Peyton
  • Jackson Pollock
  • Cy Twombly
  • Andy Warhol
  • Robert Ryman
  • Alighiero Boetti

Institutions

  • Sotheby's
  • Christie's
  • Phillips

Locations

  • New York
  • United States
  • Palm Beach
  • Paris
  • Manhattan
  • Southampton

Sources