Sotheby's Modern Evening Sale in London on 14 October produced a $235 million total, the house's standout result of Frieze Week. The auction was led by a Claude Monet that fetched $38.4 million, while a work by Leonora Carrington set a new auction record for the artist at $28.5 million.

The result puts Sotheby's ahead of the week's other London evening sales in headline terms, in a week when Christie's reported £218.6 million across its own Frieze Week double sale. Sotheby's figures were reported by market tracker HENI on 14 October.

Activity on the night spread beyond the two headline lots. Related entries from the same London sale showed a Barbara Hepworth work selling for $1.16 million (GBP 881,000) and her Small Form (Amulet) for $1.02 million (GBP 768,000), while Frank Auerbach's Figure on a Bed made $660,000 (GBP 499,200). Leon Kossoff's Head Leaning on Hand achieved $270,800, roughly double its estimate.

The Carrington record continues the market's long-running reappraisal of the British-Mexican surrealist, whose auction results have climbed steeply in recent seasons. A new artist benchmark of $28.5 million places her among the most valuable women artists at auction. The sale took place during Frieze Week, when galleries, collectors and auction houses compete for the same pool of autumn spending in London.

The result also extends a strong autumn for Sotheby's, which earlier in the year staged the record-breaking GBP 296.3 million Joe Lewis single-owner sale in the city. With Christie's reporting GBP 218.6 million across its own Frieze Week double sale on 14 October and Phillips' Modern and Contemporary Evening Sale due on 15 October, London's evening sales season has delivered a string of solid totals - a contrast to last year's more hesitant season, even as advisers note that appetite remains concentrated around the most desirable names.