Paris Art Week heralded in promising results for both Sotheby’s and Christie’s, giving hope that the art market might finally be turning a corner.

Sotheby’s two sales, titled “Surrealism and Its Legacy” and “Modernitês,” took in a combined €89.7 million ($104 million) on Friday, the highest-ever totals in France for surrealist and modern art auctions. The result also marked a 50 percent increase on the same double-header sale last year. Christies, for its part, also hosted four auctions last week in the French capital, taking $107.4 million, which was 16 percent up against the same week in 2024.

The Christie’s sales covered 20th and 21st century art and were titled “Avant-Garde(s) Including Thinking Italian” (achieving a total of $68.5 million); “Moderne(s), une collection particulière européenne” ($15 million); “Art Moderne” ($11.4 million), and “Art Contemporain” ($12.3 million).

The top lot across all for auctions was Yves Klein’s 14-foot-wide California (IKB 71), which carried an estimate on request of €16 million ($18.6 million) before selling for €18.4 million ($21.4 million). The work is in the largest size the artist made in his signature pigment, International Klein Blue (I...