The New York auction season is undoubtedly a special time of the year for art lovers. All the greatest auction houses prepare all their means for the season, providing not only a great show for the audience but also a measurement of the art market’s situation.

All the greatest auction houses prepare all their means for the season, providing not only a great show for the audience but also a measurement of the art market’s situation.

More than $2 billion worth of art was sold over a packed series of auctions in New York during the last couple of weeks. Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Philip’s and all the greats auction houses host their most spectacular auctions during the period of time known as the New York fall auction season, that happens during November. They present not only contemporary art but also all kinds of collectables from luxury cars to antiques.

They present not only contemporary art but also all kinds of collectables from luxury cars to antiques.

The most remarkable sales we have witnessed to date include the Christie's 21st century evening sale, Sotheby's sale of Emily Fisher Landau's collection, which makes the most valuable auction of works from a female collector, Christie’s 20th century evening sale, Brisk Sotheby's Modern evening sale, Sotheby’s The Now and Contemporary sales and Philip’s New York evening sale.

Sotheby's sale of Emily Fisher Landau's collection makes the most valuable auction of works from a female collector.

The season started with a nervous feeling after the results marked by London’s Frieze Week, and that feeling became palpable at the first events at Sotheby’s and Christie’s. Although the results weren't bad and included an almost record breaking Picasso sold for $139million, they fell a little bit short of expectations making an uneasy start. Anyway the last Sotheby’s Contemporary art sale seems to have warmed up the mood a little bit making a $306 million result.

Although the results weren't bad and included an almost record breaking Picasso sold for $139 million, they fell a little bit short of expectations.

We can also mention some of the highlights we have seen until now. Starting with Picasso’s Femme à la montre sold at Sotheby’s for $139 million, making the artist’s second highest result at auction, Gerhard Richter's Abstraktes Bild 636 from 1967, sold for $34.8 million at Philip’s, Claude Monet’s Impressionist masterpiece Water Lily Pond  fetched $74 million or Richard Diebenkorn’s Recollections of a Visit to Leningrad (1965) sold for $46.4 million at Christie’s. Also to mention the very expected Basquiat’s Self Portrait as a Heel (Part Two) sold at Sotheby's for $39 million below its $40million low estimate price, meaning that all the speculation behind this masterpieces before they are presented at auction does not secure the result, but this, is also part of the magic surrounding the auctions.

We can highlight Picasso’s Femme à la montre, Gerhard Richter's Abstraktes Bild 636 from 1967, Claude Monet’s Impressionist masterpiece Water Lily Pond   or Richard Diebenkorn’s Recollections of a Visit to Leningrad (1965).

While the figures from this fortnight of sales looked impressive in parts, each auction house held a sale that cumulatively fell beneath their low estimates which means there were still several significant indicators of an art market in flux.

While the figures from this fortnight of sales looked impressive in parts, there were still several significant indicators of an art market in flux.