New York's marquee auction week delivered strong results, with Sotheby's and Christie's posting combined sales of nearly $2 billion. Sotheby's achieved a record $706 million evening at its new Breuer Building headquarters, driven by the Leonard Lauder estate sale, while Christie's $690 million 20th-century sale was up 41.9% from last November. Gustav Klimt's *Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer* sold for $236.4 million, setting a new auction record for the artist and becoming the most expensive Modern artwork ever sold at auction. Frida Kahlo's *El Sueño (La Cama)* fetched $54.7 million, a record for a work by a woman artist at auction.
The results provided a much-needed confidence boost after nearly three years of market contraction, signaling that high-quality, single-owner collections can still command top prices. However, caution persisted in the contemporary and ultra-contemporary segments, where collectors remained price-sensitive and only one record was set for a young artist. The week underscored a bifurcated market: blue-chip estates and modern masters thrive, while riskier contemporary works face headwinds.