It has been a busy year for Sotheby’s, which has once again established itself as one of the most prominent auctioneers around.
However, there were always going to be some lots that stood out among the rest for their hefty price tags. Here is a quick rundown of some of the most significant.

1. Cy Twombly, Untitled – £47 million

The sale of Cy Twombly’s piece broke the expectations of almost everyone in the art world when it fetched an incredible £47 million during a stunning  sale at a contemporary Art Evening Auction in New York on November 11th.
The piece, which is signed by the former army cryptographer, is one of the most prominent works in the acclaimed Blackboard series.
The price, which managed to exceed its presale expectations, was ten times greater than the amount it attained the last time it appeared on the market in 1990.

2. Pablo Picasso, La Gommeuse – £45 million

Hot on the heels of Twombly’s piece was Pablo Picasso’s La Gommeuse, although the price is somewhat backed up by what is a curious detail – a portrait of the artist himself on the reverse.
The second piece in this two-in-one effort from one of the world’s most iconic purveyors of cubism was not discovered until 2001 having been hidden from the public view for a century.
The work is often seen as the most important in what has become known as the artist’s Blue Period and was painted between 1901 and 1904.
The oil painting is the first of piece from the period to have come to market in a generation and its price of  £45 million makes it the most expensive of the period to have been sold at auction.

3. Vincent Van Gogh, L’Allée des Alyscamps – £44 million

Fetching the highest auction price for a Van Gogh piece since 1998, L’Allée des Alyscamps was yet another highlight in a year of high-profile sales.
The piece was painted in 1888 when the artist was working with friend Paul Gauguin in Arles, France, and was completed one month before the enigmatic painter famously cut off his ear.
The final selling price was nearly double the £26.4 million initially predicted, drawing the attention of several bidders before eventually being snapped up by an Asian-based collector.
At the time, Van Gogh expert Clifford Edwards, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, said: “To have a canvas from Arles by that very self-taught artist at the height of his work marks the sale as momentous”