Emily Carr's Forest Light fetches $1.53 million at Heffel spring auction

A painting by Emily Carr sold for $1.53 million at the Heffel Fine Art Auction House on Wednesday night in Vancouver.

Forest Light, from Carr's mature period, fetched far more than the pre-sale estimate of $400,000-$600,000. A total of six Carr works were sold for a total of $2.3 million.

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The record for a Carr painting at the Heffel auction is just under $3.4 million (premium included).

A trio of Quebec artists featured prominently at the sale.

Paul-Émile Borduas's Chant d'été sold for $737,500, besting its pre-auction estimate of $400,000 - $500,000.

La visite by Jean Paul Lemieux garnered $719,800. It had been expected to sell for $250,000 - $350,000.

Jean Paul Riopelle's large-scale canvas, La forêt enchantée, drew a final bid of $590,000. It had a pre-sale estimate of $150,000 - $250,000.

Meanwhile B.C. Binning's Painted Structure in Space, which was found at a garage sale and was expected to achieve $10,000-$15,000, sold for $26,550.

Tom Thomson's Woods in Winter, which was expected to fetch $250,000-$350,000, failed to sell because it did not meet its reserve price.

The auction house says it made $9.43 million on the sales of 145 Canadian works, at the upper end of the pre-sale estimate of $7 million to $10 million. Sales figures include an 18 per cent buyer's premium.

See more auction highlights in the photo gallery above.