The fall sales series of Impressionist, modern and contemporary art in New York was not chock-full of blue-chip "trophy" art, according to the New York Times. Timed during an unsettling news cycle coupled with few top-tier collections or estates to offer, the major auction houses saw noteworthy declines from their spring sales.

A highlight at Christie's was California artist Ed Ruscha's Hurting the Word Radio #2, 1964, which sold for an artist auction record of $52.5 million with fees.

Christie’s fall auction of contemporary art raised $325.3 million, well below the $539 million total for its spring sale that featured the S.I. Newhouse collection.

An evening auction of Impressionist and Modern art at Sotheby’s brought in $209 million, in between the overall presale estimate of $178.8 million to $254.5 million.

A few works soared including Tamara de Lempicka's La Tunique rose which brought an artist auction record of $13.3 million, with fees. Claude Monet's hazy Charing Cross Bridge (1903) from his iconic London series, estimated at $20 million to $30 million, went for $27.6 million.

Some experts are looking ahead to more robust sales next spring, the last major series before the U.S. election.