Artnet News analyzed the 10 most expensive lots sold at auction in 2024, drawing on the Artnet Price Database. The top lot was René Magritte's *L'Empire de Lumières* (1954), which sold for $121.2 million at Christie's New York in November, setting a new auction record for the artist and becoming the only work to break nine figures this year. Other notable sales included Ed Ruscha's *Standard Station, Ten-Cent Western Being Torn in Half* (1964) at $68.3 million, Claude Monet's *Nymphéas* (1914–17) at $65.5 million, and Jean-Michel Basquiat's *Untitled (ELMAR)* (1982) at $46.4 million. Seven of the top 10 lots sold in New York, with Hong Kong, London, and Vienna also represented.
This list matters because it provides a clear snapshot of the current art market's cautious atmosphere, with only one work exceeding $100 million compared to two in the previous year. The dominance of Impressionist and Surrealist works, the concentration of sales in New York, and the fact that all top lots were by male artists highlight ongoing market trends and biases. The data offers collectors, investors, and industry professionals a benchmark for understanding shifting demand and price dynamics in the high-end auction sector.