The Carr painting was one of the star attractions at the Heffel Fine Art Auction House’s marquee autumn sale in Toronto, alongside works by Tom Thomson, Marcelle Ferron, Kenojuak Ashevak and Chief 7IDANsuu James Hart

The museum already owns a subsequent, oil-on-canvas work depicting the same subject; both versions of “War Canoes, Alert Bay” will now be displayed together

The 1912 painting is believed to have been gifted by the artist to friends who later moved to the Hamptons, where a discerning dealer nabbed it decades later for a bargain

Works by Jean Paul Riopelle, Emily Carr, Tom Thomson and other titans of Canadian art history contributed to the evening’s total take of C$22.6m

The two-part auction, coinciding with the centenary of Riopelle's birth, took in $17.2m in total

The Canadian auction house also saw strong results from works by members of the Group of Seven and a soaring Warhol print

Healthy bidding at Canadian auction house Heffel also achieved strong results for painter Lawren Harris

The auctions also saw major results for Alex Colville and Emily Carr, and a new auction record for Rita Letendre

High demand for Canadiana, from a historic ceramic dessert set to Group of Seven paintings, drove Heffel’s major autumn sale in Toronto

Portrait of Dora Maar eclipses other auction offerings at Heffel