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

The painting was one of four Carr works featured in the first Canadian presentation at the Venice Biennale, in 1952

Two activists from the group Stop Fracking Around also glued their hands to the gallery wall to protest the construction of a major gas pipeline in northern British Columbia

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

The property, bequeathed to the district by a physician friend of the artist for use as an arts centre, has been neglected for decades

Two canvases by Carr blew past their estimate to become among the highest auction prices paid for her work, while a painting by 92-year-old Rita Letendre set a record for the artist

Small works won out at Sotheby's and Christie's as top lots went for their low estimates or were withdrawn