Tom Thomson's Pine Trees at Sunset sold for nearly $2 million on Monday, setting a new record for the iconic Canadian artist. (Sotheby's Canada)

Iconic Canadian artist Tom Thomson has continued a record-setting run, with one of his famed oil panels fetching close to $2 million.

The Thomson oil sketch Pine Trees at Sunset sold for $1,957,500, including buyer's premium, at the Sotheby's Canada spring auction in Toronto Monday morning.

Experts believe Thomson created the vibrant but cozy panel — about the size of a sheet of copier paper — in either 1915 or 1916. Depicting a trio of spindly trees against a blazing sunset, the panel had carried a pre-sale estimate of between $900,000 and $1.1 million.

"He painted paintings that people have always loved," said Sotheby's Canada president David Silcox, who pointed out that the canvas was rare for several reasons, including its vertical orientation and the fact that Thomson had signed the panel, something he didn't often do.

Monday's sale surpasses the Thomson record set by fellow Toronto auction house Joyner Waddington for the $1.46-million sale of the panel Spring Thaw last November.

Yet another Thomson painting, View From a Height in Algonquin Park,1916 is expected to sell for close to $1 million at the Joyner Waddington auction in Toronto Tuesday.

"It's great news for everyone, for everyone in the business," Joyner Waddington director Rob Cowley said after hearing of Monday's sale by rival Sotheby's.

"Of course we're hoping for the same kind of activity on our work [Tuesday] night," he added.

In Vancouver last week, the Thomson panel Tamarack Swamp (Sketch #5) sold for $1.15 million at auction house Heffel's spring sale.

Prices have rocketed

Prices for works by the pioneering Thomson, who during his short lifetime associated with and inspired the artists who would become Canada's iconic Group of Seven, have rocketed up to the seven-figure range in recent years.

Monday's Sotheby's auction also saw more than 200 other lots by a host of beloved artists — including Emily Carr, the Painters Eleven, the Beaver Hall group, David Milne and Douglas Coupland — cross the block.

Carr's Cape Mudge, which depicts one of the West Coast artist's classic subjects, a totem pole, sold for $635,000, and another of her works, The Bay, sold for $462,500.

Group of Seven member Arthur Lismer's Pine Island, Georgian Bay doubled its pre-sale estimate and fetched $318,500. Lawren Harris's rendering of Pic Island in Lake Superior, a work that had been overseas in a private collection for decades, went for $692,500.

A large canvas by Marc-Aurèle Fortin, Village Street with Elm Tree, sold for $307,250, and a rare canvas by Paterson Ewen sold for twice its estimated value, reaching $71,500.

A silkscreen by novelist Coupland, who also dabbles in art, went for $15,600.

With files from the Canadian Press