TORONTO, CANADA — The top lot of Heffel Auction’s November 23 sale was Lawren Harris’ “Mountain Forms,” which attained $8.28 million ($11.2 million in Canadian dollars), to lead the $30-million auction. The price realized was more than double the painting’s $3/5-million estimate and set a new world auction record for the artist.

Of the 200+ artworks on offer in the auction, eight masterpieces fetched results over and above the million dollar mark, including works by A.J. Casson, Tom Thomson and Bill Reid. The Peter and Joanne Brown collection in this sale was the most valuable single-consignor collection sold in the Canadian art market

The circa 1926 oil on canvas saw strong competition from bidders in the saleroom and on the phones drove the 1926 canvas to a new artist record and a new record for a Canadian work at auction, more than doubling the previous record. The visual impact, date, provenance and exhibition history all factored  into  its  successful sale.

The work also had  personal  connections  for  Heffel  as  it  was owned and sold in the 1980s by Kenneth Heffel, father of David and Robert Heffel. The painting recently starred in “The Idea of North: The Paintings of Lawren Harris,” the celebrated exhibition in 2015 that toured major institutions in Boston, Los Angeles and Toronto.

“There is no question that ‘Mountain Forms’ is deserving of the Canadian record,” said David Heffel, president of Heffel Fine Art Auction House. “There was overwhelming passion and attention for the work, and thanks to international interest in Harris, the exceptional canvas achieved a truly international result.”

All prices reported include an 18 percent buyer’s premium and were converted at presstime from Canadian dollars to US dollars.

For more information, www.heffel.com or 866-961-6505.